All The School's a Stage
by Sue Denham
Summary: A play seems like the perfect way to lift morale within the school but Miss Hardbroom isn’t convinced. Is she right to be concerned or is she just being her usual pessimistic self?
1. Chapter 1

A strong wind howled through the corridors of Cackles Academy and an icy draught blasted its way beneath every door. Mildred Hubble raised her head from the letter she had been trying to write as her door was rattled again by a passing gust.

She shivered and wrapped her bedclothes tighter about herself. There was plaintive meowing from Tabby, as the cat was unceremoniously dumped onto the floor by his owner's actions.

"Sorry Tabby." Mildred immediately apologised and reached down to scoop up the small grey tabby cat. She placed him on her lap and was pleased to hear the reassuring happy purr within moments. Mildred didn't like to think that her cat ever held a grudge against her for the way that he was treated but it didn't hurt to pander to Tabby once in a while.

"I hate the new year." She told the cat miserably as she tried to gather her writing things together again. Her hands were so cold that she was beginning to find it difficult to keep hold of her pen. She read through her letter again and realised just how little information it contained. Her parents were always telling her that they wanted to know what she was getting up to at school but Mildred doubted that they really wanted to know about the detentions and the exploding cauldrons that made up the best part of her school life. She sighed heavily as she tried to think of something positive to write about. The past week had been nothing short of disastrous. The weather had been doing its best to prove that it could provide the coldest January on record and Miss Drill had been equally determined to prove that a little cold never hurt anyone. She shivered as she cast her mind back to the long run that they'd been forced to take on the Monday morning.

Mildred would have been the first to admit that she had very little in common with Miss Hardbroom but the imposing potions teacher had, to her mind, struck the nail on the head when she announced, very loudly, that she considered Cross-country running to be one of the most pointless things in the school timetable. She didn't agree with her teacher's belief that their time would be better spent in the potions lab but she did agree that almost anything was better than being forced to run for miles through the frozen countryside without even the promise of a cake at Cosie's café at the end of it.

Mildred's mind then turned to thoughts of Tuesday and triple Potions with Miss Hardbroom. She was fairly certain that there would never be a situation in life where she would have to turn herself into bulrushes. This was something she was pretty pleased about as after four attempts the nearest she had managed was a rather sorry looking willow tree. Miss Hardbroom had done her best to hide her disappointment, which was to say that she'd not actually sent Mildred out of the class but she had strongly suggested that Mildred apply herself to her homework with a little more vigour in future.

Mildred let her chin drop onto her knees. The term had not started well and there was nothing in the weeks ahead that promised to lighten the gloom that was visibly settling upon the school.

"I think this is going to be the worst term to date." She informed Tabby as she turned her attention back to her letter and tried to think what she could tell her parents without alarming them.

* * *

Imogen Drill suppressed a shiver as she entered the staff room. She hated to admit it to herself but she was finding it hard to maintain a high level of enthusiasm for cross-country running in the current wintry climate. She pushed her hands through her short blond hair, checking that she'd managed to remove all the random bits of twigs and leaves that seemed to delight in accumulating there. She knew that she couldn't rely on her fellow teachers to point out the random greenery to her. She'd spent three hours on Monday afternoon with what amounted to nearly half a tree stuck in her hair without anyone seeing fit to tell her about it. If it hadn't have been for the broody owl from Pentangles who was trying to collect together material for a new nest she might never have found out about it. Her frown deepened as she remembered the way that the swooping owl had rudely disrupted the volleyball game between Cackles and Pentangles. She did not appreciate being the centre of such attention.

When she'd confronted her colleagues about the matter later in the staff room, Davina Bat had simply pointed at the baton jammed into her own unruly hair and mumbled that she thought that Imogen was copying her. Miss Cackle had been placating and apologetic whereas Constance Hardbroom had simply stared at her uncomprehendingly. If Constance had noticed the twigs, she hadn't thought it her place to mention it to her colleague.

"Having a hard day Imogen?"

"What?" Imogen jumped as she heard Miss Cackle's enquiring tone. There were times when Amelia Cackle seemed to almost blend in with the furniture in the staff room.

"I'm fine… really." She tried to find some energy to respond brightly but the words came out flat and unconvincing.

Amelia Cackle frowned as she watched the usually effervescent games teacher flop onto one of the seats and let out a heavy sigh.

"Is something bothering you?" She enquired.

Imogen shook her head.

"Nope, everything's fine. I'm just a little down that's all."

"Hmm." Amelia rose to her feet and moved to the fireplace. "January in this place seems to do that to pupils and staff alike."

"Perhaps we should do something to lift the spirits." Imogen suggested.

"What do you suggest?" Amelia inquired, a sudden dread striking her. "Not another volleyball tournament?"

Imogen completely missed the fear in Miss Cackle's voice; she was too busy trying to think of a better way of gaining the students interest.

"We should do something exciting." She mused. "Something to really engage the students and take their minds off of the grey world outside the doors."

"Not a volleyball tournament then?"

"What?" Imogen became aware that Miss Cackle had just said something. "Sorry I was miles away."

"I was just wondering if your idea had anything to do with volleyball?"

Imogen weighed up the thought.

"Well I hadn't actually considered that but…"

"You're probably right. Something new and original would be better." Miss Cackle hastened to try and steer Imogen away from anything that involved high nets and flying balls.

"I'll do some research." Imogen announced. "See if I can't come up with something to brighten things up a little."

"You do that." Amelia encouraged her, letting out a sigh of relief that she wasn't going to have to be on her guard against wildly hit spherical missiles. She'd researched volleyball after the incident during the last tournament and come to the conclusion that the version of the game the girls played was different to the one in the books. The books she had found on the subject made no mention of physical contact or the need to provide protective clothing for those people watching on from the sidelines.

"Do you think we could arrange something that could take place indoors?" Amelia inquired.

* * *

Constance Hardbroom stood at the window and breathed in the chill, clear morning air. There was nothing, she reflected, so perfect as a crisp January morning. To her way of thinking, January was one of the best months of the year. October had to win out in the end of course as that month contained Hallowe'en, the most important event in the witch calendar, but January ran in a close second. There was something untouched about the New Year; a promise that anything could happen in the coming months. She closed her eyes and let the peaceful silence of the day wash over her. It was going to be a good year she told herself; this was the year that Cackle's would once again return to the top of the witch training league tables.

There was an explosion of sound as the door to the potions lab crashed open and the peaceful silence that Constance had been enjoying was shattered beyond recognition. She drew in a quick breath.

"Quiet." She waited and was pleased to hear the cacophony drop away instantly. "This is a potions lab not a youth club. Mildred Hubble take that ridiculous multi-coloured bow out of your hair this is not carnival season. Ruby Cherrytree how many times do I have to tell you that my potions lab is not the place for chewing gum? In fact, no place in this school is the right place for chewing gum. Maud Moonshine and Enid Nightshade I want to know why you don't have the correct books with you for this session."

The girls were in stunned silence and, from her position at the window; Constance Hardbroom allowed herself a small smile. She knew that the girls would be too interested in trying to work out how she had picked up on all their failings without turning away from the window to cause any trouble in the up coming lesson.

"How does she do that?" Maud whispered to Mildred as she took her place at one of the long desks that ran across the lab.

"Beats me." Mildred confessed as she dutifully removed the ribbon from her hair. "Do you think she sneaks into our rooms and spies on us?"

Maud exchanged a look with her.

"She wouldn't be allowed to surely?"

"Yeah but who'd know? We all know HB can make herself invisible at will. What's to stop her from doing whatever she wants without detection?"

Maud shivered.

"Shut up Millie."

"Wise words." Miss Hardbroom boomed from the front of the class.

Mildred looked up to see that Miss Hardbroom was glaring at her, impatient to begin her lesson.

"Sorry Miss Hardbroom." Mildred apologised and waited for her teacher to face the blackboard before whispering to Maud. "Do you think she heard us?"

Maud checked that Miss Hardbroom was still writing before she answered.

"If she had I'm sure we'd be on our way to Miss Cackle's office by now."

"I thought I said quiet!" Miss Hardbroom reminded the girls. "Is there something in that instruction that you find difficult to understand?"

"No Miss Hardbroom. Sorry Miss Hardbroom."

Constance finished writing on the board and placed the chalk on the small shelf at the bottom of the board. Maybe it wasn't going to Cackle's year to shine after all, not if she had to contend with the lax discipline and sloppy manners of Mildred and her friends.

She turned back and faced the class, fleetingly wondering if this term was going to be as painful as the last.

* * *

"Haldane Harrington and his travelling players." Miss Cackle read from the gaudily coloured flyer that Imogen had handed her. She lowered the sheet of paper and looked at Imogen over the top of her glasses. "I take it you haven't shown this to Constance?"

Imogen shook her head and crossed her fingers.

"I haven't had the chance." She lied as she sipped at her orange juice. Her mind kindly provided her with a playback of the frantic few seconds when she had run round the staff room trying to find somewhere to hide the piece of paper before Constance had entered the room at morning break. "I'm sure she'd greet the idea with her usual level of enthusiasm though."

She tried to maintain a note of sincerity but Miss Cackle's frown told her that her effort was obviously wide of the mark.

"I know Constance can seem a little…" Amelia searched around for the right word to describe her workaholic colleague. "A little of the disciplinarian at times." She finally settled with. "But she does have the students well being at heart."

"But you know as well as I do that she wouldn't see the educational benefit of having these people within the school. She'd think of the mess and the disruption to her routine before she thought of the benefit that it might have for the students."

"Hmmm."

Imogen crossed the fingers on her other hand as she hoped that the 'Hmmm' from Miss Cackle was a positive sign.

"They could set up their plays in the great hall." Imogen tried to find another way to sell the project. "And we have enough empty rooms in the cellars that they could use as dressing rooms."

"They are not cellars Imogen, they are dungeons." Amelia replied without thinking. There were times when she thought that Imogen would never truly manage to come to terms with the fact that Cackles was a castle with a long history and not a traditional school.

Amelia closed her eyes and tried for a moment to imagine what the place would look like with a bunch of actors in its midst.

"I swear the present second year are the worst that Cackle's has ever seen."

Amelia's eyes snapped open as she heard the clipped tones of Constance Hardbroom. The imposing potions teacher was standing next to the urn and contemplating whether her tea needed milk or not. A quick glance towards the door revealed that it was still closed. The frantic mopping of orange juice from the first years homework pile that Miss Drill was attempting told Amelia that Constance had once again chosen to forgo the traditional method of entering a room in favour of simply materialising.

"I swear that we should fit you with a bell." Imogen complained angrily as she failed to prevent an errant stream of orange juice from attacking a well intentioned but poorly executed drawing of a cat. The animal had looked sorry for itself before the introduction of juice, now it looked positively petrified.

"What?" Constance seemed unaware of the disruption that her sudden entrance into the room had caused. She picked up the steaming mug of tea. "I've been looking forward to this for the past hour."

"Couldn't you just have magiced one up for yourself?" Imogen wanted to know and Amelia felt her heart sink as she heard the question. There were times when Imogen's status as a non-witch in the school was made painfully obvious. This was one of those times. Amelia watched as Constance's eyes narrowed. If there was one thing Constance hated, and to be fair Amelia wasn't exactly sure how long the list was at the present time, the use of the word 'magiced' was undoubtedly somewhere near the top.

"Magiced!" The word dripped with distain and Amelia turned her head as she heard the lock being slid on the stationary cupboard's door. She hadn't even been aware that Davina Bat was in the room. Taking a breath she decided that she'd better step in before the argument really kicked off.

"Now Constance you know that Imogen isn't trying to…"

"Magiced! Magiced! Just what sort of a word is magiced? You start allowing words like magiced to enter everyday vocabulary and before you know it, we'll be potioning and chantering! I really hope that you don't use words like 'magiced' in front of the students Miss Drill."

"Constance." Miss Cackle tried again to get through to her deputy but, as she'd learnt through bitter experience over the years, once Constance Hardbroom was on a roll there was no stopping her.

"But there should be standards Headmistress, proper standards that everyone, without exception, adheres to. If we don't have these standards in place then chaos will result. Oh I know you think I'm over-reacting but I'm not. We need to have standards if we are to expect our students to have any."

Imogen sighed heavily.

"It was only an expression for heaven's sake Constance. I wasn't advocating the complete destruction of the English language."

"Now ladies, ladies." Miss Cackle moved to stand between the two teachers. "I'm sure that Imogen didn't mean anything by her use of that word and Constance I'm sure that we all agree that we don't want to see the standards at Cackle's slip. Can we please just make up and return this staff room to a calm and civilised environment?"

Constance glared at Imogen before simply disappearing into thin air.

"Well that went well." Imogen noted.

"Hmm." Was Amelia's only response. Imogen had the feeling that this wasn't the same sort of positive 'Hmm' that she'd heard earlier.

"Do you think that you'll be able to persuade Constance that having a theatre group in the school is a good idea?"

Amelia settled herself back at her desk and picked up the discarded flyer.

"I think it's all a matter of the way that we choose to broach the subject. Give me some time to think about it and I'm sure we can persuade her that it's in the best interests of the students."

"So you're agreeing to the idea?" Imogen's eyes lit up with excitement.

"I rather think I am agreeing to the idea." Amelia confirmed. "What this place needs is something to lift the spirits." She tapped the flyer. "I rather think Haldane Harrington could be the answer. Can I leave it to you to sort out the details with him?"

Imogen nodded and headed straight out of the room. Amelia watched her go and then looked down at the paper in her hand. There had to be some way of breaking the news to Constance, it was just a case of working out the best way.


	2. Chapter 2

"A theatre group… at Cackles!" The incredulity in Constance's voice was there for all to hear and Amelia was fairly certain that the whole school had heard. She began to question the head on approach that she had decided upon. She had promised Imogen that she'd deal with the situation and now she was beginning to regret her decision. Lunchtime had seemed the right time to mention the theatre group but judging by the way that Constance's eyes had just widened in horror she was seriously rethinking her approach. She watched as her deputy placed two fingers on the flyer she was holding and plucked it from her grasp. She held it as though it might infect her with something nasty and cast her eyes over the brightly printed page, her eyes clearly indicating the distain she felt.

"Are you serious Headmistress?"

"Never more so Constance. I think it's just the tonic the school needs in these dark gloomy months."

"But a bunch of actors?" Constance spat out the word actors as though the term offended her.

"And what's so wrong with that?"

"But they're all…and…and they…" Constance pulled a face and tried to find the right words to sum up her deep seated loathing of the acting profession and all those who were involved in it.

"Honestly Constance I think you're being a little unfair."

"Do you. Do you indeed?" Constance turned the flyer towards Miss Cackle. "They advertise themselves as 'fun' and 'interactive'. Do you really want our students interacting with a bunch of unwashed, uneducated travelling riff raff?"

"Who says that they are uneducated?"

"Their literature, such as it is, indicates that they travel around the countryside in a beaten up old panel van, that most probably runs on some petrol guzzling, carbon-monoxide belching, engine. I happen to think that that speaks volumes for their level of intelligence or rather the complete lack of any sign of commonsense or ecological friendliness on their part."

Miss Cackle shook her head.

"They are a travelling theatre group Constance. It would be a little hard to call oneself that if one were permanently based in Newcastle Under Lyme." She folded her arms and stared down her deputy. "Anyway I've made the decision. Imogen has contacted them and they will be here at the end of the week."

"Really!" Constance was indignant. "Why did you bother asking my opinion if you had already decided what was to happen?"

"I wanted to gauge what your reaction was going to be. I was hoping that you would be a little more reasonable about it."

"You think I'm being unreasonable"

"Yes Constance. Yes I think that I do." Amelia declared, secretly pleased with herself for standing up for her beliefs.

"Fine. Well when the whole tragic event comes its sorry and inevitably disastrous conclusion I will be here to remind you that I told you so."

Saying that Constance transported herself out of the room leaving Amelia wishing that it wasn't such a long walk to Cosie's tearoom as she was sorely in need of some cheesecake… for medicinal purposes only obviously.

* * *

The morning air was clear but cold and Imogen shivered despite the heavy coat that she was wearing. She stamped her feet and tried to keep some sense of feeling in them.

She stood at the entrance to the school and kept a look out for any signs of Haldane Harrington and his white van. She had volunteered to be the one to greet him and Miss Cackle had seemed quite pleased with her seeming enthusiasm. What she hadn't revealed was the truth of the matter was that she wanted to meet Haldane first to get a chance to explain about Constance Hardbroom. Earlier in the week, she'd been the one to journey into town to use the phone to call him and arrange the visit. He'd been aware that Cackles was a school for witches and, unlike most potential visitors, had actually seemed thrilled by the prospect of working in a draughty castle that was missing more than a few windows and whose idea of central heating was a big fireplace in the great hall. She had to confess that he'd sounded quite charming on the phone and she was looking forward to having some other non-witches in the school to talk to. It wasn't as though she had anything against the spell-casting members of the teaching staff but conversations about what could or could not be done with certain varieties of weeds and herbs did begin to get wearing after a while. There were times where she longed to have a normal conversation with someone of her own age; where she could discuss something other than the sad and seemingly irreversible decline in the standards of potion making. Whilst it was true that there were other non-witches in the building they were not without their own specialist subjects. A conversation ostensibly about climate change with Mrs Tapioca would inevitably end up revolving around how best to stop pasta from going soggy before it reached the dining hall. Mr Blossom was no better. Imogen recalled with a measure of fear the first time she'd been forced to listen to his 'wonders of MDF' speech. She'd learnt from that experience though and was now fairly adept at making her excuses and leaving the room before he pushed up his sleeves and really got going.

* * *

Upstairs in Enid's room, Mildred leaned out of the window, wanting to be the first to get a glimpse of their visitors. Enid's room was the one that gave them the best view of the courtyard. Miss Cackle had made the announcement about Haldane and his travelling players the previous day in assembly and the disgusted expression on Miss Hardbroom's face had made the whole school sit up and take notice. Over the years, the pupils had learnt that whenever that particular expression was visible something interesting was going to happen. It was the most reliable indicator of important events in the whole school and judging by the extensive use of the sneer the previous day; this was something that was very definitely worth taking note of.

"Can you see anything?" Maud wanted to know. Mildred could sense her hovering at her shoulder, eager to get a chance to see what was going on.

"Nothing's happened yet." She reported back. "Miss Drill seems to have been nominated as the welcoming committee though."

"Can one person be a committee?" Enid wanted to know.

"In special circumstances I think it's allowed." Mildred assured her as she turned her attention back to the courtyard.

She was beginning to lose interest in her self-appointed watching brief when she heard the sound of a back-firing engine. Moments later a beaten up old white van appeared on the crest of the hill.

"They're here." She hissed excitedly at the others. She felt the others jostle for position behind her and tried to make space for them to get a better view.

* * *

Imogen heard the commotion at the window and glanced up to see the second years crowding around, fighting to get a view of what was going on. She thought about telling them to get back to their studies but found that she didn't have the heart to do it. She had to confess that had she been in their position she'd have done exactly the same.

She turned back to the van as she heard the engine rattle and die. The drivers' door opened and a tall distinguished looking man stepped out. Imogen found that all thoughts of Serge disappeared from her mind as she took in the handsome stranger. He smiled at her and she almost swore that his green eyes twinkled as he did so.

"Haldane Harrington." He announced, bowing before her with a flourish, his long dark hair falling over his shoulders.

"Imogen Drill." Imogen held out a hand and felt that she really wasn't making the same kind of impact.

Haldane straightened up and accepted the outstretched hand. He took it gently within his own and brought it up to his lips, his eyes staring directly at Imogen.

"Charmed." He told her smoothly.

"Thank you for coming." Imogen had seen some of the guest wizards at the school extend the same courtesy to the majority of the teaching staff at Cackles. There were always two exceptions to the hand-kissing routine. She was one of them because she wasn't a witch and that seemed to exclude her from the Wizard's radar. The other exception was of course Constance Hardbroom. Imogen doubted that any wizard had the courage to attempt to kiss her hand. They'd more than likely find themselves hopping around on the ground, croaking, if ever they tried something that familiar.

Imogen had always noticed the way that Davina would get flustered by the hand-kiss and had wondered just what it was about it that sent her over the edge. As her own heartbeat quickened she believed that she was starting to understand. She tried to snap herself out of her reverie as she realised that Haldane was saying something to her.

"…to your school." He finished and Imogen just smiled at him.

"It's a pleasure to have you here." She told him, hoping that she'd guessed correctly what he had been saying.

"Is there somewhere you'd like me to put the van?"

"I think it will be fine where it is for the moment." She looked up at the window where she could see Mildred and Maud trying to spy on what was going on. "Perhaps I could get a couple of the girls to show your colleagues to their rooms whilst we go and see Miss Cackle."

"That's a splendid idea." Haldane told her.

Imogen looked up at the window.

"Don't pretend that you didn't hear that girls. Who wants to come on down here and help out?"

She smiled as she heard the girls fight to get to the door first. "They're a little excited by your visit. "She told Haldane unnecessarily.

"Really?"

"Of course. It's not every day that they get to meet new people… New non-witch people."

"I take it that you think that it's important they blend in?"

"Sure." Imogen gestured towards the main building. "You'll meet people in there who don't believe that witches should mix with non-witches, they'd much rather remain removed from society in some kind of splendid isolation."

"Are you going to give me a head's up as to who these 'people are before I say something I shouldn't?"

"Of course, although I think you'll be able to work it out for yourself pretty quickly."

He smiled at her comment and she found her herself smiling in return. She'd only met the man for a few moments but already she was warming to him. He had a very pleasant, relaxed manner, which she was sure meant that he was going to annoy the life out of Constance Hardbroom.

Ruby was the first out of the building. She ignored the shouts from Maud as she pushed her friend out of the way to guarantee her first placing.

"Girls, girls."

Ruby reluctantly slowed her pace as she heard Miss Drill's tone. She recognised the sound of disproval when she heard it.

"Sorry Maud." She apologised

"It's ok." Maud assured her as the pair silently agreed to arrive before Haldane together.

"Pleased to meet you." Haldane bowed before the pair and they both blushed profusely in return. "I'd like to thank you girls for taking the time out of your day to show my colleagues around."

Ruby and Maud simply smiled at Haldane in return.

"We're here to help as well." Enid pointed out as she led Mildred and Jadu out to the courtyard.

"Then my thanks are to you as well." Haldane nodded in her direction and shot them what he hoped was a winning smile.

"Thank you girls." Miss Drill motioned them to one side away from Haldane.

"I want you to escort Mr Harrington's team to the rooms that have been set aside in the East Tower. I don't want any stories coming back to me of any strange happenings." She looked at the girls in turn. "I don't want tales of objects moving mysteriously or of other ghostly goings on. They are our guests they are not to be used to practice your magic pranks on."

"Miss Drill!" Mildred was genuinely hurt by the implication. "We would never use our magic in that way."

"And what happened last parents evening?"

"That was different." Enid protested. "That was my younger brother and he had it coming."

"Be that as it may I want your word that there won't be any magic around our guests." She glared at Enid. "Provoked or otherwise."

"What if they ask to see something?" Maud asked. "Surely it would be rude not to show them then."

"When I say no magic, I mean no magic. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Miss Drill." The girls agreed reluctantly.

"Thank you girls. I'll make sure that Miss Cackle sets aside some time for you to show off your skills to our guests properly. I know that they'll be very keen to see them."

Imogen turned back to face Haldane and swore that he had just been giving the same talk to his team. She had to confess that they were an unlikely looking bunch of people. She'd never really had that much to do with the acting profession but she'd always imagined actors to look a little more… well… actorlike.

Haldane smiled at her again and motioned his four colleagues forward.

"What are you girls doing out here?"

Imogen watched as Haldane glanced around, trying to understand where the voice was coming from. She wondered if the expression of puzzlement Haldane wore was how she had looked during her first term at Cackles. Imogen counted to three and, as if on cue, Constance appeared out of thin air.

"I asked the girls to help out Miss Hardbroom." Imogen explained as patiently as she could.

"You…but…" Haldane stammered as he tried to make sense out of what he was seeing.

Constance raised an eyebrow and turned to Imogen.

"Is there something wrong with him?"

There was smothered laughter from Mildred and her friends as they watched Haldane trying to come to terms with what was going on. A glare from Miss Hardbroom however silenced them.

Haldane felt his mouth open and close and knew that there was little chance of him making any sense. It had to be some kind of trick, some illusion. There was no way that a person could do something like that. He shook his head and resolved to push the impossibility from his head for the present moment.

"Let me introduce you to our deputy Headmistress." Imogen stepped in to save Haldane from any further embarrassment.

Haldane tried to recover his composure and bowed deeply from the waist as he was introduced to Constance Hardbroom. Imogen had warned him that there would be obstacles to overcome and he had the feeling that this was perhaps going to be the biggest. Just from a look, he guessed that she was likely to be the most difficult member of staff to get on side and he wanted to be seen to be making an effort.

"Charmed to make your acquaintance." He told her smoothly as he straightened up. He saw the way that she backed off slightly as if disturbed by his presence and so he decided against offering out the hand of friendship. He had the feeling that she didn't feel the need for superfluous friendships. He fleetingly wondered if she felt the need for friendships at all.

"I'm sure that our stay here will be a harmonious one." He told her with a smile on his face.

"Hmm." Was the only response he received and the tone suggested that she believed no such thing.

"I'll show you to the area we've set aside for dressing rooms." Imogen cut into the conversation before Constance did anything to upset their guests. She was well aware that her colleague wasn't likely to hold back on her views concerning the players' presence at the academy.

"Thank you." Haldane smiled at her and allowed the teacher to lead him away.

Constance watched them go and didn't bother to hide her expression of distain.

"Aren't they just wonderful?" She heard Maud proclaim, more than a little hero worship already obvious in her voice.

"No Maud Moonshine I do not think that they are wonderful. On the contrary, I predict that they will bring us nothing but trouble. You would be well advised to keep your distance from them and keep your mind firmly focussed on the work that I will be setting you."

"Yes Miss Hardbroom." Maud replied dutifully, her eyes still fixed on the departing figure of Haldane Harrington.


	3. Chapter 3

Maud felt as though she was floating on air as she headed into the potions lab. She doubted that she'd ever been so happy.

"Isn't he gorgeous?" She breathed contentedly. "He just looks so…"

"He does, doesn't he?" Ruby agreed as she dropped her bag down on a bench and rested her arms on it. She imagined that if she closed her eyes she'd be able to see Haldane's face.

"I wonder what he's doing here." Enid folded her arms and leant up against the wall, refusing to be dragged into the hero worship of their visitor that was beginning to sweep through the school.

"He's putting on a play isn't he?" Mildred replied, missing the point that Enid was trying to make.

"But why come to this school? If he's such a good actor what's he doing coming to this draughty old place?"

"I don't care what brings him here." Ruby smiled. "Just as long as he stays for ages."

"Did you see the way that Miss Drill was looking at him?"

Maud and Ruby turned to glare at Jadu who had followed them into the room.

"I very much doubt that he's interested in Miss Drill." Ruby countered and Maud nodded in agreement.

"Plus we already know that she's still got the hots for that ranger guy, what was his name?"

"Serge." Mildred supplied the name for her friends. "I don't know what you're all getting so excited about."

Maud grabbed hold of her friend's arms and pulled her round to face her.

"Have you actually looked at the man Millie? Have you seen the way that his eyes seem to sparkle when he talks to you?"

"But he hasn't talked to you, not yet, not properly."

"He said hello." Maud replied stuffily.

"But that was directed at all of us."

"Well his eyes still sparkled." Maud was defiant.

"Quiet girls. Get to your places, we have a lot to get through this morning." Miss Hardbroom breezed into the room and the girls let out a collective sigh.

"I'm glad to see that you are all so motivated this morning. Let's see if we can't harness that energy and actually manage to get through an entire class without one of you accidentally blowing something up."

"I really don't know what you see in him." Mildred hissed at Maud as she spotted her friend starting to write his name on the front page of her potions book. "If HB catches you doing that then you'll be for it."

"He's amazing." Maud looked at her friend. "I can't believe that you can't see that."

Mildred shrugged her shoulders as she thought about it.

"He's ok." She conceded. "He's got a nice smile."

"OK!" Maud exclaimed loudly, her disbelief at Mildred causing her to raise her voice.

"Maud Moonshine and, I guess by association, Mildred Hubble. What is so important that you think it's ok to indulge in idle chitter chatter during one of my lessons?"

Maud and Mildred didn't reply, chiefly because they were still trying to work out what it was that Miss Hardbroom had just said.

Miss Hardbroom sighed heavily.

"Can I assume by your silence that you are no longer going to believe that what you have to say is more important than the potion lesson I have to teach?"

"Yes Miss Hardbroom." Mildred replied dutifully. "Sorry Miss Hardbroom."

"Very well."

Maud nudged Mildred as Miss Hardbroom turned her attention to the blackboard.

"You've misjudged him." She whispered. "You wait until you talk to him, then you'll understand."

"Can we talk about this later?" Mildred glanced nervously in Miss Hardbroom's direction.

"Mildred Hubble, Maud Moonshine I have been more than patient with the pair of you, however you seem determined to spend at least one of the evenings this week in detention. If that is to be your singular desire for this week then so be it. Never let it be said that I stood in the way of your hopes and aspirations. Firstly though you can go straight to see Miss Cackle and explain to her what was so important that you had to discuss it rather than listen to what I had to tell you." Miss Hardbroom snapped at them.

* * *

"What the…?" Mildred looked in bewilderment at Maud. The pair of them were sitting on the chairs outside Miss Cackle's office.

"Wow!" Maud was at a loss for words.

"I didn't know she could do that." Mildred confessed.

"Me neither!"

* * *

Miss Cackle placed her empty teacup back in its saucer as she heard surprised exclamations from the corridor outside her office. In her experience surprised exclamations had a number of causes but when the exclamations were swiftly followed by the sound of wooden chair legs scraping upon the stone, they usually only had one very specific cause. She brushed the cake crumbs from her lap and rose to her feet. She took a quick look at the objects that were piled up on her desk and made sure that there was nothing there that shouldn't be. It was a routine she had forced herself to adopt in recent months after the incident with the catnip toy. She'd been there in the middle of a lecture to three of the first years; telling them that their cats were working animals and not simply pets and there on the desk had been her cat's favourite toy. The matter might simply have been ignored had her cat not chosen that moment to launch itself onto the desk and play with the offending toy as though it was still an eight-week-old kitten.

Satisfied that nothing was out of place, Amelia crossed her office and opened the door. She felt her heart sink as she saw Mildred Hubble and Maud Moonshine sitting out in the corridor. She was never particularly pleased to see anyone perched on the hard wooden chairs that sat in the corridor but she was beginning to tire of seeing the same two faces week in week out.

"What was it this time girls?" She asked with a heavy sigh.

"Miss Hardbroom caught us talking in class." Mildred piped up.

"And who gave Miss Hardbroom the opportunity to catch you talking?"

"Miss?"

"You make it sound as though things would have been fine if only Miss Hardbroom had been paying less attention. The truth of the matter is that the pair of you should not have been talking in the first place." Amelia looked at the downcast faces and sighed again; the girls never made it easy for her to punish them. She indicated that the two of them should follow her into the office.

"What happened?" She asked them as she settled behind her desk.

Maud looked down at her boots and wished that she were a better liar.

"I was talking to Mildred about Mr Harrington." She confessed.

"Aahh." Miss Cackle looked at them over the top of her glasses. "I take it that you've already met our visitors?"

Maud and Mildred nodded.

"Miss Drill asked us to help them settle in." Mildred explained.

"I see."

"And it's so rare to have anyone new here that we really couldn't help but talk about them." Mildred continued with her explanation.

"It was actually me that was doing most of the talking." Maud confessed, trying to keep her friend out of any more trouble.

"I've always been led to believe that it takes two people to have a conversation." Miss Cackle pointed out. "But I appreciate your loyalty to your friend Maud." She sat back in her chair and steepled her fingers thoughtfully.

Mildred exchanged a glance with Maud and the pair of them wondered what punishment their headmistress was going to give out.

"Would it help if we were to say that we were sorry?" Mildred offered.

Miss Cackle raised an eyebrow.

"Just how many times have you had cause to say sorry to Miss Hardbroom this school year Mildred?"

Mildred opened her mouth to reply and then realised that she had no idea of the actual number of times she had had to apologise to her form tutor.

"We really are sorry." Maud piped up.

Miss Cackle looked from the face of one girl to the other and found it hard to summon up the necessary strength to punish them. She leant forward in her chair and beckoned them forward.

"If I'm honest with you." She whispered to the two girls. "I'm rather excited by the arrival of the actors myself." She sat back in her chair. "But we can't have the pair of you disrupting Miss Hardbroom's lessons. There is a time and a place for excited chattering and I'm sure you are both aware that lessons are not the time and Miss Hardbroom's potions lab is most certainly not the place."

"No miss." The two girls replied dutifully, unsure as yet whether they were really in trouble or not.

"Can you assure me that you are not going to deliberately disrupt your potions lessons with chatter about Haldane Harrington and his players again?"

"Yes Miss." Mildred and Maud chorused eagerly.

"Very well. I want you to return to your rooms until the end of the potions lesson. You will miss lunch but will return to lessons as normal after that. At the end of the day you can then go and see Miss Hardbroom and collect from her detail of the work that you missed. You can make it up in your own time." Miss Cackle watched as the two girls glanced at each other. "Don't look so surprised girls. If you would prefer me to give you lines or detention I'm sure that I could manage that."

"No miss. Thank you miss." Mildred replied quickly.

Miss Cackle watched as the two girls made their excuses and left her office. It appeared that Miss Hardbroom had a point after all regarding the distracting nature of their guests. Lunchtime in the staff room wasn't something that she was particularly looking forward to.

Mildred shut the door behind her and turned to Maud in shock.

"I can't believe that that's all she gave us."

Maud grabbed hold of her friend's arm and pulled her away.

"Sshhh, she'll hear you." When she was satisfied that they were a safe distance away she slowed to a stop. "I was expecting detention at the very least." She confessed.

Mildred shook her head.

"It's weird. I wonder what HB's going to say when she finds out that we're not in detention for the rest of the week?"

Maud pulled a face.

"Maybe collecting work from HB isn't as small a punishment as we first thought."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you want to be the one that tells HB that we haven't been given any other punishment?"

Mildred swallowed nervously.

"Perhaps we could toss a coin to decide who tells her."

Maud smiled and turned on her heel.

"We'll tell her together." She decided.

Mildred quickly fell in step with her friend. When Maud walked straight past the bottom of the staircase, Mildred called after her.

"We're supposed to go back to our rooms."

Maud turned and pulled a face.

"But this is the perfect opportunity to try and see Haldane again."

"It was Haldane that got us into trouble in the first place." Mildred reminded her friend.

"It'll only take five minutes." Maud pleaded but Mildred refused to budge.

"If we get caught then you can forget ever seeing Haldane again." She warned. "I'm sure we'd be banned from seeing the play with all the others." She looked at Maud's downcast face. "I may not share your views about Haldane but I want to see the play as much as you do. If we get caught then it will only give Miss Hardbroom an excuse to call the whole thing off."

Maud reluctantly had to agree that her friend had a point and she dutifully followed her upstairs.

* * *

As the pair disappeared onto the upstairs landing Haldane stepped out of the shadows. He smiled as he realised the impact that his arrival had already caused. If the pupils in the school were all this pleased to see him then things could only get better.

He ducked back into the shadows as he heard the sound of someone else approaching. The feet made less sound on the stone flags and he barely had time to get out of sight before the figure swept passed him. He caught a glimpse of blond hair as they passed him and he realised that it must be the sports teacher Imogen Drill. He kicked himself for hiding away. Of all the people he'd met in the school so far, Imogen had been the one that he'd really warmed to. She laughed at the jokes he'd made and really seemed to take an interest in the things he had to tell her. If he was going to try and fit in during his stay then he'd need her to help smooth the way with those members of staff who seemed less than pleased to see him.

He thought about following her but decided against it. He didn't want it to look as though he was stalking her; plus there was the small matter of getting all his equipment sorted. Plays did not put themselves on he reminded himself. He reluctantly turned around and headed back towards his quarters.

Imogen slowed her pace as she neared the staff room. She could hear raised voices from within the room. She didn't need anyone to tell her who was talking or what it was they were talking about. She swore that Constance Hardbroom had a voice that could be heard through the loudest of storms. It was certainly distinctive and it was most certainly the clearest of the voices that she could presently hear.

"They've only been here for a day and they are already causing unacceptable disruption."

Imogen sighed as she opened the staff room door and entered the room. She had known that it was never going to be easy having the actors in the school but she had hoped that a few days would have past before Constance started her complaints.

"I think Mr Harrington is very dashing." Davina Bat fanned a hand in front of her face. "I have to say that he set my heart a flutter when I saw him."

"Did you really have to say it?" Constance questioned with a tired voice. "I for one could certainly have made it through my day without hearing that."

"I think the actors will bring some much needed life to the school." Miss Cackle decided that it was best to ignore the spat between her two colleagues and just continue on the original argument that Constance had voiced.

"As far as I am concerned there is already plenty of 'life' in this school as it is." Constance remarked huffily. "These actors are nothing more than an unnecessary distraction to our girls."

"Nonsense." Imogen countered, launching herself into the argument. "This place needs a spark of life in it and I believe that Haldane and his team are just the people to provide that spark."

"I wouldn't call having the place overrun with a motley collection of unwashed so called actors 'sparking'!"

"I can well imagine what you'd call it." Imogen remarked sharply. "Well you needn't worry about it, Haldane's colleagues will be leaving us for a few days. They have another engagement so we'll only have one visitor to worry about and I'm sure we can all cope with that."

"Where exactly are Mr Harrington's people going?" Miss Cackle enquired. "I rather thought that they would be helping to entertain the girls."

Imogen shrugged her shoulders.

"Haldane said that he'd be happy to look after all the girls until they return. I rather think he likes the idea of holding court."

Constance pursed her lips.

"Why doesn't that surprise me? It must flatter his already inflated ego to have a school full of girls hanging onto his every word."

"I rather think you're exaggerating Constance." Amelia chided her deputy.

"I most certainly am not." She snapped, holding up one of the books that she was marking. "Maud Moonshine and Ruby Cherrytree have already seen fit to scrawl his name across the covers of their exercise books."

"Ahh." Miss Cackle's face took on a worried expression. "I was rather hoping that he wouldn't have _that_ kind of effect on the girls."

Imogen shook her head in disbelief.

"It's natural that they should react this way. Any newcomer to the school was bound to attract their attention."

"By any newcomer you mean any _male _newcomer." Constance pointed out. "I didn't notice any of the girls scrawling Millicent Mudlark's name on their exercise books after her talk on the consequences of turning oneself into an element for a prolonged period of time."

"I take it you haven't seen Beverly Blackthorn's homework book?" Miss Bat muttered. Constance glared at her and Davina shrank back in her seat, biting nervously on her nails.

"Haldane Harrington is a dangerous presence in our midst." Constance declared. "He will cause us nothing but trouble."

Imogen clasped both hands to her head as she tried to master her frustration with her colleague.

"Just because he's a man Constance, it does not necessarily follow that the girls will fall under his spell and he'll lead them, pied piper like from the school grounds." She squared up to Constance. "He's going to bring an element of fun into the girls' life and I for one think that that's exactly what they need."

"Fun." The word was spat out. "You think that what our girls need is fun?"

Imogen placed her hands on her hips.

"That's exactly what I think they need. They're children after all, they're supposed to have fun."

Miss Hardbroom bristled at the comment and Miss Bat, wise after many years of sharing a staff room with Constance Hardbroom, immediately sought refuge in the cupboard. Imogen watched her go and, after glancing at the expression on Constance's face, realised that Miss Bat had probably made the wisest move.

"Firstly Miss Drill" Constance began, her tone so brittle it cut through the atmosphere in the room. "Our girls are not normal children they are witches and secondly, and more importantly as far as I am concerned, they are not here to have fun. They are here to learn; to matriculate with dedication and to graduate from here as well rounded and, I hope at the very least, competent witches. Fun does not come into it."

Miss Drill opened her mouth to protest but was cut off before she could begin.

"And where exactly do you think that 'fun' will get our students in the real world Miss Drill? When was the last time you heard one of the captains of industry putting their successful achievements in the workplace down to having 'fun' at school?"

"There is more to life than work Constance." She tried to protest and realised as soon as the words left her mouth that she was wasting her breath. If there was one person in the world who seemed to live and breathe nothing but her job it was Constance Hardbroom. Imogen's brain rattled through her time at Cackles and tried to think when she had seen Constance voluntarily doing something that wasn't directly connected with her job.

Surely the woman had a hobby of some kind: an interest that wasn't directly connected to her job? She shook her head slowly as she realised that this just wasn't so.

"You have something else to say perhaps Miss Drill?"

Imogen was brought quickly back to the here and now. She blinked and immediately averted her eyes from Constance's piercing glare.

"Sorry." She apologised, "I was just thinking about something." She watched as Constance pulled a face and turned to complain further to Miss Cackle.

"Well I think its wonderful having the actors here." Came a very muffled comment from within the stationary cupboard.

"Thank you Miss Bat." Imogen turned to watch the heated conversation that was now taking place between Constance and Miss Cackle. Imogen was reasonably sure that Miss Cackle would prevail, as she would never want to have to face up to the actors and ask them to leave.

"I think they bring a touch of…mumph muummph." The comment from the stationary cupboard became less clear as Davina Bat rediscovered the bowl of cauldron stew that she had been eating the previous day.

"I think they do too." Imogen decided that it was probably safest to agree with Miss Bat at this point as asking her to repeat herself would only lead to an even more incomprehensible comment.

"They are staying Constance and that is final."

"Ooohh." Constance let out an exclamation of annoyance and turned smartly away from Miss Cackle. She glared at Imogen and shot an angry glance at the stationary cupboard before storming from the room.

"Constance!" Miss Cackle sighed heavily and followed her deputy from the room, wanting to at least attempt to smooth the waters.

Imogen watched them go and stared around at the now empty staff room. She was beginning to wonder whether it was ever going to be possible to have a peaceful lunchtime. She cast her mind back over her time at Cackles and tried to recall a time where lunchtime hadn't involved an argument or a confrontation. She sighed heavily and sat down at the empty table. She peeled the lid from her yoghurt and pushed her spoon into the contents, watching as the pale pink yoghurt swirled round the pot.

There was no way that Miss Cackle was going to calm Constance down before the end of lunch and she knew from past experience that they'd be lucky to see Miss Bat before the end of the day. She raised a spoonful of yoghurt to the empty room. "Cheers everybody!"


	4. Chapter 4

Mildred tapped her pencil against the half-written sheet of paper and wished that the words would come. There were times when she found it really hard to complete her letter home. She was fairly happy with the main body of it now but she wasn't sure how to sign off. 'Got sent to see the headmistress again' wasn't really the positive ending she had been hoping for. The fact that the sending to the office had been magical wasn't likely to impress her parents either. She dropped the pencil on the bed and raised her head to look at Maud. Maud was seated at the far end of the bed and was doodling idly on a scrap of paper.

"Are you alright?" Mildred asked her friend and Maud nodded.

"Why do you ask?"

Mildred shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know. You just seem quieter than normal that's all."

"Just thinking of Haldane." Maud confessed.

Mildred tried to suppress the sigh that rose in her throat but was unable to completely mask it.

"I should have guessed that you wouldn't understand." Maud snapped at her friend and returned her attention to her doodle.

"Don't be like that Maud." Mildred urged her. "I'm sorry, it's just that I don't see Mr Harrington in the same way that you do."

Maud placed her pen down and turned to give Mildred her full attention.

"Have you actually looked at him? Haven't you seen the way that he gets dimples in his cheeks when he smiles?" She sighed heavily and leant her head on her hands. "You don't know what you're missing Millie." She told her friend. "I think he's just heavenly."

"I think he's just heavenly!"

Mildred and Maud turned their heads as they heard Ethel repeat Maud's line. They tried to ignore the laughter that followed but neither Ethel nor Drusilla were going to leave things there. The girls stood in the doorway and sniggered at the confession that they'd heard Maud make.

"Do you seriously think that someone like Haldane Harrington would be interested in you?" Ethel wanted to know.

"I didn't say that he would be." Maud tried to stand up for herself but she knew that Ethel was likely to gain the upper hand in the conversation.

"Just as well." Drusilla piped up. "Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be to have you following him around like a lost puppy? I can just see it now." Drusilla grabbed Ethel's hand. "Oh Mr Harrington can I carry your bag for you? Oh Mr Harrington can I stare into your eyes as I think they're dreamy."

"Shut up." Mildred barked angrily at Dru.

"And why should she?" Ethel wanted to know. "She's only speaking the truth. I expect you're just as wet as Maud when it comes to Haldane. I bet you think that he'll take one look at you and want to take you away on tour with him."

"Do not."

"Bet you do."

"Well that shows what you know Ethel Hallow. I couldn't care less if Haldane Harrington left the school today and never came back."

"Well I find that a little disappointing." A rich deep voice boomed from the corridor behind Ethel. All the girls jumped upon hearing the voice and Ethel and Drusilla stepped out of the way to reveal Haldane standing there.

Mildred met his gaze and went as red as a beetroot with embarrassment.

"I can always leave now if you like?" He told her with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"No I… I didn't mean. I… Well I." Mildred stumbled helplessly trying to find the right words to say to explain herself to Haldane. He held up a hand and motioned for her to be quiet. She let her sentence dry up and tried to ignore the smug expressions that Dru and Ethel were sporting.

"I take no offence at your comments…" He left the sentence open waiting for her to supply her name.

"Mildred." She stammered in reply. "Mildred Hubble."

"Well Mildred Hubble I hope that you won't discount my play as quickly as you have discounted me?"

"Oh no sir." Mildred replied hurriedly. "I'm really looking forward to seeing it."

"Good." He smiled in return. "I'm pleased. And do me a favour?"

"Sir?"

"Call me Haldane. Sir makes me sound like a teacher."

"Sorry sir…. I mean Haldane." Mildred found herself blushing again as she said his name.

"Sorry to interrupt girls." He apologised to the group as he stepped back out into the corridor. "I'll be on my way. I look forward to seeing you all at the masterclass that I'll be holding during the week." He doffed an imaginary cap in their direction before walking off down the corridor.

"Well done Mildred!" Ethel remarked sarcastically. "You're lucky that he didn't take offence at what you said. Imagine having to front up to Miss Cackle and explain to her why our guest is leaving."

"Yes but he wasn't upset was he?" Maud countered. "He really didn't seem to mind at all."

"Yes but he…" Ethel tried to continue the argument but Maud wasn't prepared to take it this time.

"He was fine about it." She stated firmly. "And if he had said that he was leaving I'm sure HB would be interested in finding out what you were doing in Mildred's room in the first place."

Ethel opened her mouth to reply and then realised that she wasn't sure exactly where she could take the conversation.

"Come on Drusilla." She turned on her heel and stomped off down the corridor.

Maud and Mildred exchanged glances.

"That could have been really bad." Mildred confessed.

"Yeah." Maud agreed, her head resting on her hands. "I guess we're just really lucky that Haldane's as wonderful as he is."

Mildred groaned as she realised that Maud was drifting off on one of her daydreams again and she returned her attention to the letter she was trying to write.

* * *

Imogen looked up from her lunch as she heard a gentle tapping on the door.

"Come in." She called out, knowing full well that the tapping was too quiet to belong to one of the students. The door opened a crack and Haldane stuck his head round.

"Would it be alright to take my lunch in here with you?" He asked quietly.

"Of course." Imogen assured him, beckoning him in.

"Are you sure that Miss Hardbroom won't object?"

"Oh I'm certain that she would." Imogen replied honestly "But she's not here at the moment."

"Is she likely to be back in the near future?"

"I doubt it."

Haldane immediately looked relieved and pushed open the door wider.

"I get the feeling that she doesn't like me very much." He confessed.

Imogen smiled.

"Don't worry, Constance doesn't like anyone very much." She beckoned the man in. "Come and take a seat. It can be quite rewarding to get a few minutes of peace from the madness out there."

"If you don't mind me asking, how do you cope with being a…" Haldane struggled to find the right word. "In a… school like this?"

"A non-witch." Imogen supplied the word that Haldane was looking for. She shrugged her shoulders. "It's ok I guess. It can get a little frustrating sometimes when you know that the girls are using their magic to cheat at netball."

"Do they do that often?"

"Never when Miss Hardbroom's looking! She's very good at teaching them to use their skills responsibly." She looked at Haldane and saw the way that he was gazing at the décor in the room. "I take it you haven't performed in many magical schools before?"

"Er.. not many." Haldane smiled. "Well actually this is the first. It's a very impressive place."

"It's a very cold draughty place at this time of the year." Imogen corrected him. "I'll take you on a proper tour later if you like?"

"That would be great." Haldane smiled again. "I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here to show me around. I have to confess that I'm a little nervous of your Miss Hardbroom. She looks as though she could pack quite a magical punch."

"I expect she could." Imogen admitted. "She could probably give most witches a run for their money."

"More powerful than your Miss Cackle is she?"

Imogen sat back in her chair and stirred her spoon round and round in her yoghurt while she considered Haldane's question.

"I suppose she is." She finally answered. "Can't say I've ever really thought about it before." She removed the spoon from the pot and took another mouthful. "Why do you ask?"

Haldane smiled guiltily.

"I don't really know that much about these kind of places." He confessed. "I guess I thought that the top witch would be the one with all the power."

"I think you've been reading too many books." Imogen gently scolded him. "Not all witches are obsessed with power you know. Some of them are quite normal." She paused and thought about the people she shared a staff room with. "Well I've heard that some of them can be normal."

Haldane laughed softly at her and Imogen found herself smiling at him in return.

"I'm glad you're here." She told him honestly. "I think you're exactly the breath of fresh air that this place needs."

* * *

Enid sat down at her usual desk and let out a heavy sigh.

"Chanting." She moaned. "Who needs it?"

"You do, judging by the strange noises you were making in the last lesson." Ruby told her smartly as she too settled down in the classroom.

"Funny." Enid told her sarcastically. She looked around the room. "Where is Miss Bat anyway?"

"Probably forgotten all about us." Ruby told her. "It wouldn't be the first time."

"Perhaps she's trying to sneak a look at Haldane."

"What!" Ruby's tone was incredulous. "I can't imagine Miss Bat liking Haldane."

"Why not?"

"She's old." Ruby told her as though that answered the question.

"Maybe she likes younger men." Enid teased but Ruby turned her nose up in disgust.

"That's revolting." She told Enid flatly. "I can imagine Miss Drill with Haldane as they seem to be the same sort of age but Miss Bat?" She pulled a face.

"That's very ageist of you." Jadu butted in. "Do you really think that Miss Drill might fancy Haldane?"

Ruby and Enid looked at eachother and shrugged their shoulders.

"I guess it's possible. I mean she is the one that's going to show him around the school."

"I thought that she already had a boyfriend?"

"True." Enid agreed. "But I haven't heard her mention him recently."

The three girls sat back and thought about the situation. If they were honest with themselves then they weren't exactly happy with the prospect of Haldane and Miss Drill together.

They were jolted out of their reverie by the arrival of Mildred and Maud.

"I'm surprised to see you two." Enid admitted. "I would have thought that Miss Cackle would have confined you to your rooms for the rest of the day at least?"

Maud and Mildred exchanged glances.

"She was quite nice about it really." Mildred confessed. "We only have to write up the notes from Miss Hardbroom's class in our own time."

"What!" Ruby couldn't believe what she was hearing. "After HB transported you there and everything?"

Mildred nodded.

"I never realised she could do that." Jadu chipped in. "Did she get you on target?"

It was Maud's turn to nod.

"Yep. We landed slap bang on those chairs with pinpoint accuracy."

The other three girls shook their heads in disbelief.

"And if I had my way Maud Moonshine you and Mildred Hubble would still be sitting there now."

The girls scrambled to their seats as they heard the booming tones of Miss Hardbroom.

She appeared before them moments later with her arms folded and her face as black as thunder.

"I thought we had chanting now." Ethel piped up from her place in the front row. Miss Hardbroom shot her a look that made her cower back in her chair.

"Pleased though I am that you are so knowledgeable about your regular curriculum Ethel Hallow, I am here to inform you that you are to proceed to the great hall where 'Haldane Harrington' will be leading an acting masterclass." Haldane's name dropped from her lips as though it was the most distasteful thing in the world.

There was immediately a buzz of chatter from the girls, which Miss Hardbroom silenced by raising one hand.

"You will proceed to the great hall in a calm and orderly manner and you will not run nor chatter about what you believe will or won't happen in the next hour." She told them firmly. "If I catch one of you making the slightest of sounds then I will be more than happy to transport you all to the corridor outside Miss Cackle's office."

The girls rose quietly to their feet, fighting against the almost overwhelming urge to talk about this sudden change to their day.

As Mildred's group filed past her, Miss Hardbroom added a final thought.

"If you do make one sound then I can fix it so that you will be unable to move from those chairs in the corridor whether you wish to or not. Am I making myself perfectly clear?"

"Yes Miss Hardbroom." The girls chorused quietly.

Miss Hardbroom waited until the last girl had cleared the room before vanishing from the spot.

* * *

The girls arrived at the great hall to find Miss Drill waiting there for them. She ushered them in and waited for them to find themselves a seat and settle down.

"Haldane Harrington has kindly agreed to give up his afternoon to talk to all of you. I trust that you will all give him your full attention?"

"Yes Miss." The girls chorused happily and Imogen confessed that she felt a fleeting pang of jealousy. She couldn't recall a time when the girls had been so eager to attend one of her lessons. She was fairly sure that she ranked pretty highly on the girls list of preferred subjects; not that she kept a list, but she was certain that no class had ever reacted that positively to anything she had attempted to teach them.

Haldane looked down and smiled at the eager faces that were staring up at him. There was nothing he liked more than an attentive audience.

"Acting is an art." He told them. "It's not such a very different art to the one that you are being taught within these walls." He waited for the expected murmur from the girls and he wasn't disappointed. He raised his hands to silence them and after a few moments they did quieten down.

"Part of your art is deception." He told them. "From what I've witnessed so far you don't need to necessarily utter the spell to make things happen."

Ethel raised her hand and Haldane invited her to speak.

"It's not as simple as that Mr Harrington." She told him smoothly. "When you advance beyond a certain level you can make things happen by just thinking them but when you are at our level you still need the words." She paused. "Or the ingredients."

Haldane gave a smart half bow in her direction.

"I stand corrected…" He paused and invited her to reveal her name.

"Ethel Hallow."

"I stand corrected Ethel Hallow." He told her. "And as I told your friends earlier, I'd prefer it if you called me Haldane."

Ethel batted her eyelids in his direction.

"Whatever you say Haldane."

Haldane winked at her and then turned his attention back to the group as a whole.

"So it seems that you have more to your arts then I have to mine. Perhaps then there is something I can learn from you." He paced across the front of the stage as though pondering his next move.

"Usually we come into schools and put on plays that we have prepared. I was thinking that maybe you might find it more rewarding if you were to take part in the plays."

There was an outbreak of excited chattering from the girls and Haldane beamed at Imogen who was still standing at the side of the room, He was surprised to see that her expression was one of concern. He shot her a quizzical look and she stepped up to his side.

"Have you cleared this play idea with Miss Cackle?"

No." Haldane's face dropped. "Do you think that I should have done?"

"Well it would have been prudent." She told him. "Involving the students in a play is naturally going to mean that they have to spend time in rehearsals."

"Yes."

"Rehearsal time is going to have to come from somewhere."

"Aaahhh." Haldane finally understood what Imogen had been driving at. "I'm guessing that Miss Hardbroom won't be offering up any of her lab time?"

"On a scale of one to unlikely I'd say that it was a stone cold impossibility."

Haldane pulled a face and looked down at the girls who were chatting excitedly amongst themselves.

"But I can't let them down Imogen. There must be a way that we can persuade Miss Cackle that it's a good idea?"

"I'll talk with her." Imogen promised. "But I can't guarantee that she's going to like the idea."

"I'd really appreciate anything you could do." Haldane told her and then turned his attention back to the girls.

* * *

"A play?" Amelia looked up at Imogen over the top of her glasses. "Are you sure that it's a good idea?"

Imogen sat across from Miss Cackle and put on her best pleading face. She'd waited until the staff room was empty before broaching the subject. If there was one thing she didn't need when trying to present the idea it was Constance Hardbroom sneering and telling anyone who'd listen what a waste of time she thought it was.

"I think it's a great idea. The girls have been complaining that they have nothing to do in the evenings. This will be the perfect thing to occupy their time and keep them out of mischief."

"But a play?" Amelia still sounded unsure. "It's a big undertaking, it'll take more than a few evenings for the girls to get a play up to a presentable level." She paused and took in the disconsolate expression on Inogen's face. "Perhaps if you were prepared to sacrifice a few of your own cross-country sessions I dare say that I could persuade the others to follow suit."

"Miss Cackle that would be wonderful. I'm sure Miss Bat wouldn't mind giving over a few of her chanting lessons."

"Hhmm." Amelia agreed. It seemed that they both realised where the problem would lie.

Imogen's heart sank as Constance chose that very moment to enter the staff room. Constance noticed the guilty looks that passed between her colleagues and was immediately on the alert.

"I take it the pair of you are plotting some further disruption to our daily lives?" She snapped.

Amelia and Imogen exchanged a look. Amelia decided that it was time to tell the truth.

"What we were discussing, not plotting Constance, was a play."

"A play!"

"Yes. A play. Mr Harrington is going to stage a play that will involve our girls."

"Our girls!" Constance asked, fearing that she already knew what was coming next.

"I think it will be a great experience for them." Amelia argued.

"Do you. Do you indeed?" Constance stared down her nose at the pair of them. She didn't mean to it was just that they were both a good deal shorter than she was. "I take it that the proposed play will interfere with the scheduled timetable?"

"To a degree." Amelia confessed. "We will all have to make a few sacrifices."

"By 'we' I assume you're including me?"

"By we I am including everyone Constance not just you. This is a project that will involve the entire school and I'm expecting everyone to put in the same amount of effort."

"But Miss Cackle." Constance began to protest as she realised that her lesson plans would be thrown into chaos.

"Everyone will have to give up one lesson a week to accommodate the rehearsal schedule." Amelia stated firmly.

"I'm happy for the girls to forgo their cross country training." Imogen explained. "That's two lessons a week for me."

Constance sniffed.

"I don't mean to be rude Miss Drill but the ability to run along a muddy track isn't really considered as one of the essential qualities one needs to be a witch. In fact I know plenty of successful witches who've never felt the need to pull on a pair of running shoes and cavort around the countryside in sub zero temperatures. However it may come as something of a surprise to you to discover that potion making is quite highly regarded."

"Is there a point to this Constance?" Imogen enquired through gritted teeth.

Constance brushed at an invisible speck of dirt on her sleeve.

"I really don't think that you need me to spell this out for you Imogen. I think that you are more than capable of working it out for yourself."

"Ladies, ladies." Amelia stepped between the two teachers, once again taking on the thankless task of mediator.

"I suppose that you are going to side with Miss Drill again?" Constance remarked acidly.

Amelia sighed heavily.

"It's not a matter of taking sides Constance. I really do wish that you'd understand that."

"Oh so it's just a series of fortunate coincidences that every time Miss Drill comes up with an idea you happen to be in full agreement with her?"

"Constance please." Miss Cackle pleaded. "I really wish you'd try and see the benefits that can be gained from having someone like Haldane in the school. This play is going to go ahead and I wish that you'd get involved and help make it something really special."

"I thought that I had already made my opinion clear regarding the presence of Haldane Harrington within the school." She reminded the two teachers. "Why you think that I would welcome this further interruption to school life is beyond me." She folded her arms. "Do whatever you want. Just keep me out of it." She stalked past Miss Cackle and headed for the urn in the corner of the staff room.

Imogen exchanged a glance with Miss Cackle. Her expression was one of faint surprise. She hadn't expected Constance to give up with that little a fight.

"Shall I announce the auditions then?"

Miss Cackle nodded.

"Let's get this play underway." She agreed.


	5. Chapter 5

_Just wanted to say thanks to the two people that have been kind enough to review so far. I really do appreciate it. The story is becoming a bit of a monster I know but I can assure you that it is going somewhere._

* * *

"Auditions will be held in the great hall at the end of the day." Imogen told the girls and watched as they immediately burst into excited chattering. She allowed herself a small smile of victory. This was the sort of reaction she had been hoping to achieve. However much Constance tried to tell her that Cackle's girls were different to normal girls, Imogen was never fully convinced. Witches they might be but at the end of the day, when it came down to it, they were still teenage girls. They were interested in extra-curricular activities and she was sure that more than a couple of them were more than a little interested in Haldane. She had to admit that she could understand that. Although she'd never dream of doing anything to jeopardise her relationship, such as it was, with Serge there was no harm in looking.

"What do we have to do for the audition Miss?" Ethel was the first to speak up.

"Haldane hasn't specified anything. Do something that you're good at. It could be a monologue, a scene from a play, a song, anything."

"What about dancing?" Ruby wanted to know.

"I'm sure Haldane can find room in the play for a talented dancer." Imogen assured her.

"Shame we don't know any." Drusilla snapped, earning herself a hard stare from Imogen.

"Do we know what the play's going to be about Miss?" Mildred enquired. "That way we could try and make our audition pieces relevant."

Imogen shook her head.

"Sorry girls, I think Haldane wants to see what you can do before he decides on anything."

Ethel let out a laugh.

"God if he sees Mildred first then it's bound to end up as some sort of disaster movie."

"Ethel that was uncalled for."

"Sorry Miss." Ethel apologised demurely. "But we all know just how clumsy Mildred is. Let her on a stage and she'll bring down half the scenery.

Imogen wanted to reprimand Ethel but alas she knew that the girl was speaking the truth. The one time she'd tried to get the girls into drama, Mildred had only been on the stage for a minute before she'd managed to cause chaos.

* * *

Mildred walked gloomily out of the hall. 

"I don't think I want to do anything." She told Maud in a serious tone.

"You can't mean that?" Maud was incredulous. It's perhaps the most exciting thing that's happened in this place in years." She turned to face her friend. "Why don't we do something together?"

Mildred pulled a face.

"I'm really not sure."

"Oh come on." Maud urged. "Miss Drill didn't say that the audition couldn't be done in groups."

Mildred thought about Maud's idea for a few minutes.

"I suppose we could do something together." She eventually conceded. "But lets not make it anything too complicated."

Maud smiled.

"As we've only got until the end of the day to get things sorted there's no way that we can do anything too difficult." She squeezed her friend's arm. "You won't regret this Mildred. I promise you."

* * *

Mildred fiddled nervously with the book that she held in her hand. Judging by the speed at which the other girls were being auditioned it would only be a matter of minutes before she was due on stage with Maud. She closed her eyes and tried to take a deep breath. Her heart was pounding and she had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Maud had tried to tell her that there was nothing to worry about but she couldn't seem to shake the fear that had gripped her. If she had her way then she'd back out of the whole thing now but she'd promised to help Maud and knew that she couldn't let her friend down. 

"What's the matter Mildred Hubble?" Mildred felt her heart sink as she recognised the sneering tones of Ethel Hallow. "Got a case of stage fright have we?"

Mildred opened her eyes and found herself staring into the face of her classmate.

"I'm just a little nervous that's all." She stammered.

Ethel smiled at her before turning to face Drusilla, who stood next to her.

"Poor Mildred. Fancy her worrying about a little audition."

"I don't know why she's nervous." Dru replied. "We all know that she's going to mess it up."

"Am not." Mildred replied hotly, wishing that the pair of them would just go away and leave her alone.

"Come on Dru." Ethel slipped her arm through Drusilla's and led her away. "Mildred failing on the stage is something I just have to see."

"We're not allowed to watch each other's auditions." Mildred protested as the two headed out of the room.

"Haldane's already told us that we're in the play and he says that we can watch everyone else." Ethel called back.

Mildred tilted her head back and tried to take another deep breath.

"It'll be fine." She muttered quietly to herself. "It'll be fine, it'll be fine, it'll be fine."

"Are you alright?" Maud enquired as she entered the room and caught sight of Mildred.

"What? Oh, I'm fine." Mildred lied. "Just trying to remember the words."

"Haldane said we didn't have to memorise all the words." Maud tried to reassure her friend. "You can take the book on with you."

"I know but I'd like to at least get some of them into my head."

"Everything will be fine." Maud told her confidently.

"Mildred, Maud. You're up next." Fenella stuck her head around the door and smiled at the two girls.

"Really?"

"Really." She looked at Mildred's nervous expression. "It's not that bad." She opened the door wider and beckoned them towards her. "Haldane's been really good with everyone so far."

"Have you auditioned?"

Fenny shook her head.

"I thought I'd leave the acting to everyone else. I much prefer backstage work."

"How did you get involved in all of this?" Maud asked as she headed towards the door.

"I bumped into Haldane in the corridor and asked him if I could be his stage manager."

"And he just said yes?"

"Pretty much." Fenella smiled. "It might not be the most glamorous of jobs but it was something I always wanted to do." She leant towards Maud. "It also means that I get to spend a lot of time with Haldane."

Maud shook her head.

"Why didn't I think of that?"

Fenella tapped a finger against the side of her head.

"It takes a little cunning Maud; and that type of cunning only comes with age." She smiled at the two younger pupils and ushered them through the door and onto the stage.

* * *

Drusilla and Ethel had already settled themselves onto chairs at the back of the hall and Drusilla nudged Ethel as she spotted Mildred and Maud step out onto the stage. 

"This should be fun."

"I think we should make it fun." Ethel whispered back to her friend.

"What are you going to do?"

Ethel thought about it for a moment and then smiled.

"Just watch this."

Dru smiled as she heard Ethel starting to intone a spell. It was, she reflected, always fun to hang around with Ethel. You never quite knew what was going to happen next.

* * *

"What are you going to do for me girls?" Haldane asked smoothly. He sat back in his chair and looked up at the two nervous pupils who stood on the stage. 

"It's a scene from Hamlet" Maud told him.

Haldane smiled up at her.

"That's quite a serious piece."

"Is that wrong?"

"No no. Not at all." He reassured them. "Please begin."

Maud cleared her throat and turned to Mildred.

"Are you ready Millie?"

Mildred nodded nervously and opened the book to the correct page.

Mildred looked at the words on the page and willed herself to be able to speak them. She knew what they were but for some reason she just couldn't speak them. She shook her head and tried again but no sound would come out of her mouth.

"Come on Millie." Maud hissed at her under her breath. "It's your turn."

Mildred looked at the words again and couldn't understand why she found it impossible to speak.

Haldane sat forward in his seat.

"Come on girls."

"I'm sorry." Maud apologised and nudged Mildred.

Ethel clamped a hand over her mouth and tried to suppress the laugh that was building up inside. She'd learnt the silencing spell when she was younger and had often used it to great effect on her younger sister. This was the first time however that she had used it against a fellow pupil. If she'd cast it properly then Mildred would remain unable to speak for at least another ten minutes. She heard a stifled laugh from Drusilla at her side and nudged her in the ribs. If the plan was going to go off without a hitch then she needed to make sure that they didn't draw attention to themselves.

"If you can't finish the scene girls I'm going to have to ask you to leave the stage." Haldane broke the awkward silence that filled the air.

"Mildred." Maud glared at her friend.

Mildred opened her mouth but no words came out. She turned to face Maud and tried to convey the problem to her but Maud was in no mood to be understanding. Mildred wanted to explain that she wasn't doing this on purpose and that she would complete the scene if she could but she had no way of explaining anything to her friend.

"I'm sorry girls." Haldane told them. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave the stage. Better luck next time."

Mildred closed her book and reluctantly trudged off the stage after Maud. She could sense the anger that was radiating from her friend.

"I'm really sorry." Mildred finally managed to get the words out.

"Oh so you're speaking to me now!" Maud snapped back with more anger in her voice than she intended.

"Don't be like that." Mildred implored her friend. "I didn't do it on purpose."

"Didn't you?" Maud turned to face Mildred. "You said from the start that you didn't want to do the audition."

"But I'd never deliberately mess it up for you. You know that."

Maud looked at her friend and saw the expression on her face. She knew in her heart that Mildred wouldn't deliberately get things wrong but she just couldn't understand what had happened.

"I'm sorry." She finally managed to say.

"No I'm the one that should be sorry." Mildred countered. "I don't know what happened to me out there. I tried and tried but I just couldn't say anything."

"Nerves." Maud told her friend. "That's all it was."

Mildred shook her head.

"I was nervous but not that nervous." She protested.

"Nice performance Mildred." Ethel remarked as she entered the room. "I can honestly say that I've never seen anything like it."

"Shut up Ethel." Mildred snapped back at her.

"Cat got your tongue did it?" Dru wanted to know.

"Why are you two so interested?" Maud muscled her way into the conversation.

"Just wanted to know why Mildred decided to audition by performing a mime act."

"Did you have anything to do with it?" A sudden thought struck Mildred.

Ethel smirked at the pair of them.

"You don't need me to help you make a fool of yourself. You are perfectly capable of doing that all by yourself."

"But you did help didn't you?" Mildred persisted with her thought. "You put some kind of a spell on me didn't you?"

"I did no such thing." Ethel countered. "And unless you have proof that I did do something I'd keep my mouth shut. No-one likes a sore loser Mildred." She smiled smugly at the pair again before heading out of the room.

"She did something." Mildred stared after Ethel. "I just know she did something."

"I wouldn't put it past her." Maud agreed.

"I'm sorry that you won't be in the play Maud."

Maud shrugged her shoulders.

"It's not the end of the world."

"Perhaps you could audition again?" Mildred suggested. "Do something by yourself."

Maud shook her head.

"It's ok. If you're not in the play I don't think I want to be either."

"But that means that you won't get to spend time with Haldane."

Maud shrugged her shoulders again.

"It's not the end of the world." She repeated the phrase but this time it seemed to carry a little less conviction.

"Perhaps we could volunteer to help out backstage in the way that Fenny has?"

Maud turned up her nose at the idea.

"I don't much fancy making sets and running around after the likes of Ethel Hallow." She looked towards Mildred. "Cause you know that that's what would end up happening."

Mildred had to admit that Maud had a point.

"I am sorry." She told her friend again as the two of them left the room.

Outside in the corridor they bumped into Fenny and Gris.

"Sorry to hear about the audition." Fenny told her. "I'm seeing Haldane in a little while to talk about what needs to be done. I could ask him to let the pair of you audition again if you want?"

Both girls shook their heads.

"Thanks for the offer." Maud told Fenny. "But I think I've had my fill of auditions for the time being."

"Ok, but if you decide that you want to get involved with the play in a backstage way then do let me know." Fenny told her.

"She's just showing off because she gets to spend so much time with Haldane." Griselda teased her friend. "I think she's got a soft spot for him."

"She's not the only one." Mildred entered into the conversation. "I get the feeling that half of the school think he's wonderful."

"Only half the school?" Griselda questioned. "I think you'll find it's everyone in the school."

"With the obvious exception of HB." Fenny added.

"And Mildred." Maud pointed out.

Fenny and Gris looked at eachother and then at Mildred and then at Maud.

"Is she quite well?" Fenny wanted to know.

"Does she need glasses?" Griselda inquired.

Mildred frowned at the comments.

"I never said that I didn't like him." She argued. "I just said that I wasn't bonkers over him the same way that you all seem to be."

"Why ever not?" Fenny shook her head. "It's not often we get talent like him in the school. If you're saying that you'd rather look at Mr Blossom than Haldane Harrington then I'm certain that there's something wrong with you."

"There's nothing wrong with me." Mildred protested.

Fenny and Gris exchanged a glance before announcing that they had to be going. The four girls said their goodbyes and Maud watched the older girls as they disappeared down the corridor.

"Lucky Fenella." Maud's tone contained more than a hint of jealousy. "She gets to spend the next couple of hours in the company of Haldane whereas we get to get up close and personal with our homework."

"Well the quicker we can do it the more time you'll have to dream about him." Mildred teased her friend.

Maud punched her playfully on the arm and the two friends headed back towards their rooms.

* * *

The peaceful silence of the potions lab was shattered by the arrival of the first class of the day. Constance Hardbroom raised her head from the book that she had been reading as the girls hurried their way into the room. She noted with more than a little irritation that the 3rd years had become almost as noisy as the younger years. 

"Do you mind?" She raised her voice and immediately the chatter from the girls died away. She looked round at the flushed faces and could sense the barely concealed excitement that permeated the group. "Is it too much to hope that this sudden enthusiasm for life is in any way connected with the upcoming lesson?"

The only response she heard was muffled mutterings from the girls as they settled into their usual places in the room. She clicked her tongue impatiently against her teeth. No doubt Haldane Harrington was in some way connected to the change in the girl's attitude. She'd warned Miss Cackle that the man would provide a distraction but had Miss Cackle paid her any heed? She sighed again. It was hard enough at the best of times to keep the girls attention focussed on their work; it was going to be even harder now.

"Settle down." She instructed the class and watched as they gradually seemed to settle down. "Let's start where we left off yesterday." She cast her eyes across the rows of faces. "That is assuming that any of you can actually remember that far back." Her eyes settled on Fenella Feverfew. "Fenella tell me what is the first ingredient that you need if you are going to make a levitating potion?"

Fenella looked at the cauldron that sat in front of her and the row of ingredients that were laid out upon the desk. She knew that she should know the answer to the question. She knew that she should know the name of everything that lay in front of her but her mind was completely blank. She raised her head and met the piercing glare of Miss Hardbroom.

"Well?" An eyebrow was raised and Fenella knew that an answer was expected. She shook her head slightly and looked down at the ingredients again.

"Can anyone help Fenella out?" Miss Hardbroom eventually asked and Griselda immediately stepped in to help her friend out and picked up the flax stalks.

"Well I'm glad that at least one of you was paying attention yesterday." Miss Hardbroom snapped, more than a little irritation plain in her voice. "Perhaps you can redeem yourself Fenella by telling me why it's important to make sure that the flax is fresh and not dried?"

Fenella stared at the plant stalks that her friend was holding and shook her head. She searched her memory but found that she couldn't come up with the answer.

She opened and closed her mouth as she realised that there appeared to be a gap in her memory. She tried to articulate what was happening but the words just wouldn't come.

"Fenella Feverfew if this is your idea of a joke then I have to be the one to inform you that it isn't funny." Constance stared at the girl and watched as her eyes widened with what appeared to be fear. The eyes met hers and she watched as Fenella shook her head slightly. It was at that moment that Constance realised that this wasn't a joke; that there was something seriously wrong.

"Come here." She beckoned the girl to the front of the class. "I want the rest of you to lay out in order the ingredients that you will need for the levitation potion."

Fenella rose shakily to her feet and headed to the front of the class. She was aware that the rest of the eyes in the room were on her and following her progress.

"Eyes on your own work." Miss Hardbroom instructed the class. She spotted hands being raised to mouths and whispers passing between the pupils. "No chatter." She warned them. "I want this done in absolute silence."

She turned her eyes back to Fenella as the girl reached her desk.

"I can't…" Fenella began but broke off.

Constance regarded Fenella closely.

"I want you to turn that pencil on my desk into a glass of water. You look like you need one."

Fenella raised her right hand and pointed in the direction of the indicated pencil. She closed her eyes and tried to recall the spell. It was one of the first things they'd been taught in the 1st year and she knew that she should know the spell. Finally she opened her eyes again and shook her head.

"I can't." She half-whispered. "I can't do it. I don't know how." Panic was plain in her voice and it was that edge that attracted the attention of the rest of the room.

"Eyes on your own work girls." Miss Hardbroom instructed the class as she heard the whispering start up again. She looked at the panicked expression on Fenella's face and knew that she wasn't faking.

"Can you remember anything?" She asked as gently as she could.

Fenella's lower lip trembled as she tried to keep her fear in check. Not trusting herself to speak she shook her head and felt the first hot tear trickle down her cheek. She didn't understand what had happened but she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had lost her magic. She'd lost everything she'd ever been taught about the craft. It had gone. It was as if it had never been there. She knew that she was no longer a witch.


	6. Chapter 6

_Young Scunge I have to confess I'm a little worried about your upcoming story. It's 'Eeking out of your brain'! It sounds very messy and probably very painful but I'm hoping that it will come together for you and I look forward to reading it. (Keep with it.)_

_Lily Anne: Many thanks for the review and I'm glad you like it so far. I was trying to keep the story within the world established in the series but in future chapters it may divert away a little._

Meanwhile on to Part 6 (It's all coming thick and fast now! This can't last.)

* * *

Amelia looked up wearily from the work she was trying to get through as Constance swept into the room, her swift movements causing many of the papers on the desk to scatter and cascade to the floor. She sighed inwardly. There were times when Constance's sense of the dramatic annoyed her. She was perfectly capable of transporting herself into a room with the minimum of fuss and indeed seemed to take a certain amount of pleasure in frightening the life out of the other members of the Academy, students and staff alike by her sudden appearances; so why she persisted in these grand sweeping gestures was a little beyond her. 

"What is it Constance? If it's about the buckled shoes that one of the first years is wearing, I am well aware of it. She has issues at home."

"It's happened again."

"What's happened again?" Amelia was immediately on the alert. It was unlike Constance to appear so flustered that was unless someone happened to utter the words Hecketty Broomhead.

"It's one of the third years." Constance seemed at a loss for words.

"What about one of the third years?" Amelia looked at the pile of letters that she still had to work through and then at the expression on Constance's face. She'd promised herself the merest sliver of cheesecake when she'd gotten through the postbag but she was beginning to realise that it might be a very long time indeed before she completed the task. "What exactly is going on Constance?" There was a hint of impatience in her tone. "If this is about the multi-coloured hair bands again I've told you that I permitted them."

"This is more serious than that." Constance moved to stand at the fireplace and leant against it, her forefinger and little finger pointed as always. Amelia wondered if there was ever a time when she wasn't expecting trouble. "It's Fenella Feverfew." Constance explained. "I don't think she's ever going to graduate now."

Amelia shut her eyes and tried to recall the student in question.

"Well I agree she's not the most adept witch we've ever had at Cackles but I think you're being a little harsh."

"That's not what I mean." Constance snapped. "She won't graduate because she doesn't have any magic."

"What!"

"There's nothing. It's all gone."

"Be reasonable Constance. A witch does not lose her magic overnight."

"Well I'm telling you that Fenella Feverfew has." Constance moved away from the fireplace and towards the window. "She came into the potions lab this morning and it was as though she'd never seen a bubbling cauldron before in her life."

Amelia rubbed a hand across her chin.

"Are you sure that this isn't just the third year's idea of a joke?"

"Are you inferring that I don't know the difference between a practical joke and a serious problem?" There was more than a hint of hurt and indignation in Constance's voice. "I've been teaching long enough to know all the tricks that these girls can play and I'm telling you that this is serious." Constance turned to stare out of the window. "I've seen this before and it didn't end well."

Amelia sat back in her chair, all thoughts of the letters now forgotten.

"How could this happen?"

"Evil is afoot. Something dark walks amongst us."

Amelia shivered at the dark tone of voice. There were times when she had to admit that Constance Hardbroom had the ability to scare the life out of her.

"Don't be so dramatic." She chided.

"What so you think it's normal for a witch to lose her powers?" Constance turned to face her and her eyes were blazing. "This could be the end for all of us."

"Where is Fenella now?"

"What?" Constance seemed thrown momentarily by the question. "I took her to the sickbay and asked Miss Drill to stay with her. I tried to tell the girls that it was nothing serious but they all seemed more than a little shaken by what happened."

"Where are the rest of the girls now?"

"I sent them back to their rooms. There was no way that they would settle to a lesson after that."

"Hhmm." Amelia considered the matter for a few moments. "I should go and see Fenella and see how she is."

"'Seeing how she is' is not going to tackle the root of the problem." Constance tried to point out.

"Well I happen to think that it's a good place to start. I want to see the girl for myself before I make any snap decisions."

"But Miss Cackle…"

"Constance please… If we have some sort of magical disease at work here we need to make sure that every step is carefully taken."

"Oh very well." Constance grudgingly agreed.

* * *

Imogen lowered the magazine she had been flicking through and regarded Fenella as she lay sleeping peacefully. Outwardly, there was no sign that anything untoward had happened to her, although Imogen had to confess that she had no idea of what a witch who had lost her magic was supposed to look like. There was a part of her that wished that Miss Hardbroom had picked on someone else to watch over Fenella. What was she supposed to do if the girl woke up? What was she supposed to say? Of all the people in the school, Mr Blossom and Mrs Tapioca aside, she was probably the worst choice of nursemaid. How was she supposed to adequately empathise with a girl who had just lost powers that she herself had never had first hand experience of? Patting her arm and saying 'there, there' just wasn't going to cut it. 

She chewed nervously on a nail and willed someone to come through the door and lend her a hand. A grazed knee or a bump on the head she could deal with without any problem but this was something that was way beyond her. As if on cue she heard the latch being lifted on the door and moments later Miss Bat poked her head around the opening.

"How is she?" Davina wanted to know.

Imogen shrugged her shoulders.

"She's been sleeping since I arrived."

Davina nodded her head.

"It's probably for the best. Poor girl must need the rest."

Imogen rose to her feet and drew Miss Bat to one side. Although she was fairly certain that there was no way that Fenella could hear her, she didn't want to risk upsetting the girl.

"Have you ever seen anything like this before?"

Miss Bat nodded vigorously.

"Oh yes. I've done the evening room check many times over the years and I've seen plenty of the girls sleeping." She beckoned Imogen closer as if sharing some great secret. "Some of them even snore you know."

Imogen did her best to suppress a sigh.

"I meant have you ever seen one of the girls lose their magic before?"

"Ooh no." Davina drew her shawl closer around her shoulders as though that offered some sort of protection against whatever it was that was going on. "I think Constance is the only one who's seen anything like this." Davina paused for a moment. "That is unless she's just showing off and claiming she's seen it just to get attention."

Imogen didn't bother to suppress a second sigh.

"Was there something that you wanted Davina?"

"I was just checking up on Fenella."

"Right."

Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Miss Cackle and Miss Hardbroom.

"I see the first years are safe in your hands Miss Bat?" Constance remarked sarcastically.

"What? What?" Miss Bat replied flustered.

"You are supposed to be teaching the first year at the moment Davina. Perhaps you could go and make sure that they are not currently running amok in your classroom!"

"Ooh. Yes." Miss Bat hurriedly made her excuses and dashed from the room.

Constance pursed her lips as she watched the chanting teacher scurry past her and then turned her attention to Imogen.

"Has she woken up since you've been here?"

Imogen shook her head.

"I take it you gave her something to help her sleep?"

"You could say that."

Imogen frowned.

"You gave her something magical?"

"Naturally." Constance answered brusquely.

"Was that wise?"

Miss Cackle crossed to Fenella's bedside and provided the answer for Imogen.

"In the circumstances it was probably the best thing to do." She caught sight of the doubt on the gym mistresses' face. "It's possible that Fenella hasn't completely lost her knowledge of magic. A little magic introduced into her system could be just what she needs to jog her memory and help her find her own."

Imogen shook her head and rose to her feet.

"You know there are times when I swear that I will never understand witches."

Miss Cackle smiled gently.

"We're not all that different." She nodded down at Fenella. "Thank you for sitting with her."

"It's ok." She gestured towards the door. "I've got a class starting soon. I'll leave Fenella in your capable hands."

Miss Cackle nodded in ascent and Imogen left the room.

"She seems to be sleeping peacefully enough."

Constance shrugged her shoulders.

"I wanted to make sure that she got plenty of rest. She was a little… shocked when she realised that her magic had gone."

Miss Cackle looked down at the sleeping girl. Nothing seemed outwardly wrong with her.

"You say you've seen this before. What happened?"

Constance folded her arms and cast her mind back to her final year at college.

"There was an outbreak amongst my class and 3 witches completely lost their powers."

Miss Cackle contemplated what Constance was saying.

"Are you certain that it was an illness and not just some disgruntled witch getting her own back?"

"Mistress Broomhead may be many things but I don't believe that even she would resort to such measures."

"Hhmmm." Amelia was less than convinced. "You know her better than any of us Constance and if you're sure…"

"I'm sure Headmistress. I doubt even Mistress Broomhead would do something that terrible."

"Was a cause ever established?"

Constance shook her head.

"Nothing was ever made public. It was passed off as some kind of isolated virus and the details buried."

"So they could have kept files from you." Amelia pointed out but Constance shook her head.

"I took a look at them myself and the reports indicated that no-one had any idea what was going on." She tailed off as she realised what she was confessing to. She turned her head towards Miss Cackle and saw eyebrows raised in her direction. "It was a time of crisis." She tried to explain. "We wanted to know what was going on."

"So you broke into the college files?"

Constance pulled a face.

"I wouldn't necessarily have called it 'breaking in'. Nothing was damaged and I left no indication that I'd ever been there."

"Constance Hardbroom, I never thought of you as a lawbreaker."

Constance shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't really think that any of that matters now."

"No, you're right." Amelia returned her attention to the matter at hand. "I'll get on to the Grand Wizard and see if he can't shed some light on what's going on."

"Must we involve him?" Constance asked with a sigh.

"Of course we must."

"Very well, but may I suggest that we instigate a quarantine within the school, prevent anyone from outside coming in?"

"It's a good suggestion, if there is a virus it's better to prevent it from spreading as best we can."

"My thoughts exactly." Constance lied smoothly; if there was one thing she didn't need at the moment it was the Grand Wizard parading around as though he owned the place and insisting that he was the only one who really understood what magic was about.

"I'm going to sit with her a while." Miss Cackle announced and Constance nodded.

"Classes will continue as normal for the time being until we can find out what happened."

"Where is our visitor at the moment?"

"The second years are currently enduring another of Mr Harrington's masterclasses in the Great Hall." Constance placed emphasis on the word masterclass and Miss Cackle winced in response. She had hoped that by now her deputy would have come round to the idea of having the actor in the school but it appeared as though she was still as strongly against the idea as she had been from the beginning.

"We've certainly got to keep the news away from him as much as we can. We don't want the poor man panicking and demanding to leave."

Constance shrugged her shoulders.

"It would be simple enough to stop him."

Miss Cackle glared at her deputy.

"You will not use magic on Mr Harrington under any circumstances. Is that clear?"

"Perfectly clear headmistress." Constance replied smartly. "With your permission?" She waited for the nod from Miss Cackle before disappearing from the room.

* * *

Haldane finished his talk and looked down at the girls. They were all so engaged in his talk that it seemed a shame to him to end the session there. He sat down on the floor and motioned for the girls to join him. 

"I guess that the best way for me to really explain what I was just talking about is to apply the theory to real people."

"What do you mean?" Ruby wanted to know.

"Well I was talking about how important it is to make any character you play believable.

An easy way to understand how your character will react in any situation is to take real people and compare the way that they would react." Haldane looked at the confused expressions on the faces of the girls and realised that he needed to make himself clearer.

"Lets take your teachers as an example. Imagine that one of your potions went a bit wrong and…let's say it started sending bolts of lightening around the class." He paused and waited for the laughter to die down. "How would each of your teachers react?" Haldane looked round at the girls. "Come on, it's safe to say what you think. I'm not going to report back to them. This is just an exercise. What would Miss Drill do?"

"Run and get one of the others." Ruby was the first to break the silence.

"Good." Haldane encouraged her. "And why would she do that?"

"Because she's not a witch. She wouldn't have any way of stopping what was happening."

"Exactly." Haldane smiled warmly at her and Ruby grinned at the others, pleased with her success.

"Let's continue that idea." Haldane encouraged them. "What would…Miss Bat do?"

The girls looked at each other before smiling and replying as one.

"Run and get one of the others."

Haldane looked a little taken aback and Maud thought it best to try and explain.

"Miss Bat might be great as a chanting teacher but I'm not sure exactly how strong her command of magic is."

Enid took up the explanation.

"The last time one of Mildred's potions got a little out of hand it took Miss Drill two days to talk Miss Bat out from under one of the beds."

Haldane raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Really?"

"Really." Maud agreed. "I don't know how she ever got through her witch exams."

"Ok ok." Haldane decided to move things on. "So lets think about those teachers in this school who do command a decent level of magic. Who do you think is more likely to go and tackle the problem head on?"

"Miss Hardbroom." The girls chorused as one. Again Haldane looked surprised by their answer.

"What about your headmistress?" He asked them. "Surely as head of the school she'd be the one to tackle things?"

Mildred shook her head.

"She usually leaves things to Miss Hardbroom."

"Interesting. So do you think that's because Miss Cackle is the senior witch and delegates or is it because Miss Hardbroom has a better command of magic?"

"I reckon Miss Cackle has more tricks up her sleeve than she lets on." Jadu decided.

Maud shook her head.

"No way Jadu. Whenever she wants anything major done she calls on HB."

"Yeah but that's just cause she's the head. What's the point of being the boss if you can't delegate."

"I think HB wins this one hands down." Ruby agreed.

Mildred watched the debate unfold. She had never really thought about the magical skill of their teachers before.

"When was the last time you saw Miss Hardbroom use a potion or actually have to incant a spell?" Maud continued with her championing of HB. "We spent two days in the potion lab perfecting our invisibility potions and yet HB can make herself disappear without seeming to think about it."

The girls fell silent as they actually thought about what Maud was saying.

"Don't forget she transported all of us to the Great Hall last year." Mildred recalled. "I still want to know how she managed that."

"Do you think any of us will ever reach that level?" Enid asked in a hushed voice.

"Course we will." Jadu assured her but her tone lacked conviction.

"Just how powerful do you think she is?" Ruby asked, also bringing her voice down to a whisper as if fearing that Miss Hardbroom could hear her.

"She can't be that powerful." Jadu reasoned. "She wouldn't be teaching here if she was."

"Miss Cackle's sister seemed scared of her." Maud recalled with a shudder remembering the night that Agatha Cackle and her cronies had attempted to take over the school.

"Imagine having that much magic at your fingertips." Mildred breathed. "Being able to do whatever you wanted without having to worry about spells and potions."

"She does use incantations though." Ruby argued.

"I reckon that's just for effect." Maud confessed. "The sound of HB reciting a spell scares the life out of me." Maud looked around to make sure that Miss Hardbroom really was nowhere to be seen and suddenly remembered that Haldane was still there. "Sorry Haldane." She apologised quickly.

Haldane raised his hands.

"Don't apologise, this is exactly what I wanted you to do. Looking at people in this way can help when you come to play a character. There are times you have to forget about the way that you would react and instead think about the way that the character you are playing would react." He looked around at the small group and saw that there were still a couple of confused faces. "Take your Miss Hardbroom, you've just described a lot about the way that she reacts and the way that others view her. If in a play I wanted you to act like her, you'd know that you'd be able to take on trouble and also scare the life out of others in the process."

"I get it." Ruby exclaimed. "If I were playing Miss Cackle I'd pass on the major magical duties to my deputy and concentrate instead on where my next cheese fix was coming from."

The rest of the girls burst out laughing but Haldane didn't understand the joke.

"Miss Cackle has a thing about cheese." Ruby explained. "It doesn't really matter what sort of cheese it is. She'll eat any of it."

"Even the really smelly stuff." Enid agreed.

"Excellent." Haldane clapped his hands together. "I can see you really are understanding what I'm trying to teach you." He looked at his watch. "Alas it seems that time has caught up with us."

The girls let out a groan and Haldane smiled at them.

"Do we really have to go?" Ethel wanted to know.

"Not all of you." Haldane told them. "Miss Cackle gave me permission to hold rehearsals for those of you who are taking part in the play."

Mildred felt her heart sink. She knew that most of the other girls in the room were involved with the play in some way.

"Isn't it time you were going Mildred?" Ethel leant forward and whispered in Mildred's ear. "There's no place for losers in this room."

"Shut up." Mildred hissed back.

"No one likes a loser." Ethel taunted her. "Couldn't even pass a simple audition. I'm surprised Maud's still speaking to you after what you did. If I was her I wouldn't want anything to do with you."

Mildred wanted to tell Ethel to shut up but a part of her agreed with what Ethel was saying. It was her fault that Maud didn't have a part in the play and she'd really been keen to get involved.

"Come on Millie." Maud nudged her friend gently in the ribs and Mildred reluctantly rose to her feet.

"See you later girls." Haldane told them as they made their way from the room.

"Loser!" Drusilla coughed as the pair of them reached the doorway. Mildred turned back to glare at her but Drusilla just smiled sweetly at her.

Maud pulled on her friends arm and made sure that they left the room before Mildred did something that would only land her in more trouble.

* * *

"I take it that there's no improvement with Fenella?" Imogen enquired as she entered the staff room later that afternoon. 

"No change I'm afraid." Miss Cackle informed her. "We haven't contacted her parents yet, I want to give it a couple of days before we make a formal announcement to them."

"What about the girls?"

"What about them?"

"We have to tell them something."

Amelia frowned.

"I was rather hoping that we could keep this quiet."

"I don't think that that's going to be possible. Some of the 3rd years were there when Fenella realised she'd lost her magic. Rumours will spread like wildfire if we don't make some sort of announcement."

"Hmm. You may have a point." Amelia grudgingly agreed. "But what do we tell them?"

"You could try the truth."

"And send the girls into a panic. I don't see what good that would achieve." Constance appeared out of thin air and Imogen took a moment to recover from the shock.

"How long have you been listening in?" She demanded to know.

"Long enough to realise that what you are suggesting is foolish in the extreme."

"And what would you have us do? Push everything under the carpet and pretend nothing has happened?"

"Of course not." Constance replied huffily. "I just think it would be wiser to coat the truth with a little white lie. If we tell the girls that there is something in the school that has drained the magic from one of their friends and we don't have a clue how it happened or if it will happen again, what precisely do you think the girls will do? Hmmm? I rather think they will panic and I for one do not wish to spend the rest of the day dealing with near hysterical girls."

Imogen opened her mouth to argue but she grudgingly realised that Constance had a point.

"What do you suggest that we tell them?"

"Perhaps that Fenella was indulging in some extra-curricular magic and it went a little awry. Not only should that keep the girls quiet it should also scare the others into curtailing their recent out of hours venturing into my potions lab."

"It's a good idea Constance." Amelia told her deputy. "I suggest we call everyone together in the great hall this evening and make the announcement."

"As you wish headmistress." Constance replied smoothly and crossed the room to the urn.

"Aren't you going to ask how Fenella is?" Imogen followed her colleague across the room.

"I very much doubt that anything has changed in the four minutes since I last saw her."

"You've been to see her?" The surprise was plain in Imogen's voice.

Constance finished filling her mug and turned to face Imogen.

"You find it surprising that I see fit to check in on one of my students?"

"Well… er…no of course not." Imogen didn't want to confess that she was indeed very surprised to find out that Constance had actually taken the time to see how Fenella was.

* * *

Despite the best efforts of the staff, the Great Hall was buzzing with the news that someone had lost their powers. The details were initially sketchy but they quickly spread from table to table. 

"So what do you think happened?" Maud asked as the gossip concerning Fenella Feverfew spread to their table.

"I overheard one of the 3rd years saying that HB did it because she thought that Fenny was getting too powerful." Jadu whispered.

"You don't believe that surely?" Maud protested.

"Why not?" Enid wanted to know. "We all know what a right cow she can be."

"But she wouldn't do something like that." Maud protested. She looked to Mildred for support.

"Maud's right. I know HB can be mean but she'd never misuse her magic like that."

"Can you think of any way else it could have happened?" Jadu demanded to know, dropping her voice to a whisper as Miss Bat walked past the table. "There's no-one else here who'd have the power to do it."

"I think we should wait until someone officially tells us what's going on." Mildred tried to persuade the others but Enid scoffed at the idea immediately.

"You honestly think that they're going to tell us the truth?" She beckoned the others to lean in. "I think we should try and get a look at the records ourselves."

"I wouldn't recommend that as a productive use of your time." Miss Hardbroom boomed from behind the group, noting with pleasure the way that all five of them jumped in shock. "I've found that breaking into school property can lead to extended time spent in detention."

"We were just…" Mildred began to try and explain but Miss Hardbroom cut her short.

"I'm well aware what 'you were only just' Mildred Hubble and whilst some might say it's commendable for you to be so concerned about a fellow pupil, others would point out that we would have nothing to gain by trying to hide anything from you." Constance glanced at each of the girls in turn. "Seeing as you are all so concerned you will be pleased to hear that Miss Cackle is holding a meeting in the Great Hall after dinner to explain the matter to you all. I want no more talk of conspiracies and breaking into school property. Is that clear?"

"Yes Miss." The girls chorused and cast their eyes back down to their plates.


	7. Chapter 7

_Never fear Scunge I call everyone 'young' so and so, it's a habit of mine. I had assumed that you were somewhere nearer my age than one of the whipper snappers (but sorry if I offended.)_

_Thanks again guys for the reviews, it's good to know if I'm hitting the right notes and whether anyone is liking the plot or not. I wasn't expecting to post again so soon but as I have a busy week ahead of me, I thought I'd post this now._

_I'm really enjoying this, I have to say. It's just so much fun writing for HB and the others. Right, enough waffle, on with the fic._

* * *

"Can you imagine what it must be like?" Enid asked the others as they trailed out of the hall following Miss Cackle's announcement regarding Fenella Feverfew. 

The girls shook their heads.

"I can't imagine being without magic." Maud confessed with a shiver.

"Do you believe that it's just a virus?"

Jadu turned to look at Ruby who had just asked the question.

"What else could it be?"

Ruby looked around before answering.

"It could be the work of another witch. Remember that you said one of the 3rd years thought that it was HB that did it."

Jadu pulled a face.

"I know I said that but after what Miss Cackle told us, I really don't think that she could do anything that heartless."

"What about Miss Cackle's sister?" Enid suggested but Mildred shook her head.

"She's still banned from coming anywhere near the school."

"You think she'll abide by the witches code?"

Mildred nodded.

"She may want to take over the school but she's loyal to the code." Mildred paused before continuing. "Do you think we should go and see Fenny?"

There was no immediate response from the others.

"I think we should leave her to rest." Maud finally answered, not wanting to give voice to the fact that she really wasn't happy with the idea of talking to anyone who had lost their magic in case it was in some way catching. She wasn't proud of herself for thinking that way but she couldn't help it. Until they knew for sure what had happened to Fenny she didn't want to go anywhere near her.

Mildred looked at the others and realised that none of them seemed particularly keen to pay Fenella a visit.

"What are we going to do this evening then?" She tried to move the conversation onto something less disturbing.

"Ahh." Enid's voice contained more than a trace of guilt. "Haldane's arranged another rehearsal."

Mildred's face dropped.

"I take it that you're all going?"

Enid, Ruby and Jadu nodded.

"Well that's ok." She replied rather too quickly. "I'm sure that Maud and I will find plenty to do."

"Look we're really sorry." Enid tried to explain but Mildred brushed her apologies aside.

"There's nothing to apologise for." She assured them. "If I hadn't of screwed up the audition I'd be as keen as the rest of you to go to rehearsals. You go, you enjoy them."

Enid gave her friend's arm a squeeze.

"Thanks Millie."

Maud watched the girls go before turning to face Mildred.

"I hope you don't mind but I've got some work that I really ought to be getting on with." She looked at Mildred's downcast face. "It's just a little something that I've been working on. I'll only be gone an hour at the most. I'll see you later… yeah?"

Mildred forced a smile to her lips.

"Yeah." She told her friend. "Sure." She watched as Maud disappeared off down the corridor. She fought back against tears that were springing to her eyes. "Not now." She hissed at them but they refused to listen.

* * *

There was a definite air of tension in the staff room. Miss Cackle looked from one teacher to the next and wondered just how long it would be until tempers began to be frayed. If there was one problem with living in the place where you worked it was the fact that you never really spent any time apart from each other. Oh they all tried to make time to do things by themselves; Imogen would go out on her long runs, Davina would lock herself away in the cupboard and as for herself, well she always liked to think of an afternoon at Cosie's as being her escape from the pressures of everyday life. She turned her head to look at Constance and the thought suddenly struck her that she really didn't know what it was that Constance did to get away from it all. She was sure that there had to be something. She narrowed her eyes and thought that bit harder. 

"Is there something wrong headmistress?"

Amelia looked quickly away as she realised that she'd been staring at her deputy.

"No No." She assured her. "There's nothing wrong." She shook her head as though trying to dislodge the thought that had settled in her mind. When this present crisis was past, she was determined to sit Constance down and tell her that she had to start taking time off and that she had to do something that involved her getting outside the school grounds. She was sure that her advice would be received with polite disinterest but she was determined to try and get Constance out of the rut she perceived her to be in.

She placed her hands on the desk in front of her and rose to her feet.

"I'm going to go and see Fenella." She told the group. "See if she's remembered anything else that might shed some light on what's happened to her."

"Give her my best." Imogen told her and Amelia nodded in return.

"I'll make sure and let her know that everyone's thinking of her." She told them as she headed out of the room.

"Well seeing as no-one else is prepared to say anything." Constance broke the silence that had fallen upon the room and immediately there was a heavy sigh from Imogen, who was seated in one of the armchairs by the fire. Constance glared at her. "Whilst you may be happy to have Haldane cavorting about the place, I say that he's an unnecessary and disruptive influence at this time and he should go."

Imogen clicked her tongue against her teeth.

"I don't see what we can possibly gain by sending Haldane away."

"How about a degree of control?" Constance argued. "It's bad enough at the best of times to maintain discipline amongst this current rabble we like to call the second year."

"Yes but Constance this isn't the best of times. Surely it's better to keep their minds focused on something else until we can sort this out." Imogen argued.

Constance arched an eyebrow at Imogen's choice of words.

"Until **WE** can sort this out?"

Imogen pulled a face as she tried to keep a lid on her escalating temper.

"Ok Constance, until you and Miss Cackle can sort this out. Satisfied?"

"Not really."

"What a surprise." Imogen muttered under her breath.

"I won't really be satisfied until these actors are out from under our feet and we can return this school to what we laughingly refer to as normal."

"Ohhh." Miss Bat had been listening to the growing argument for as long as she could and now felt that the time was right to stick her twopenneth in. "Ooohhh for heaven's sake Constance, why do you have to always see danger and drama where there isn't any?" Constance turned her attention to Miss Bat but didn't reply, preferring to simply arch an eyebrow and listen to the older teachers rant with barely concealed amusement. "You complain about Haldane upsetting the smooth running of the school but you are doing nothing to calm things down with your constant doom laden warnings. Why don't you just get a straw and suck all the fun out of the room? That should make you happy."

Constance faced Davina Bat, her expression unchanged.

"And who precisely rattled your cage Miss Bat? Did we run out of flowers to eat, or actors to fawn over, or did someone perhaps happen to hide the key to the stationary cupboard?"

There was a sound, which was something like a cross between a sob and a sneeze and Davina Bat dived for the cupboard. She pulled on the door but it refused to open. She pulled on it repeatedly but it still refused to budge. Her sniffles and sobs became more desperate as the door refused to budge.

"Having a little trouble are we?" Constance enquired, amusement plain in her voice.

There was no reply but the door was rattled loudly as Davina tried to get into the cupboard.

Imogen looked from the frantic actions of Miss Bat to the amused expression on Constance Hardbroom's face. She couldn't believe that the woman could be so heartless as to laugh at the distress of another colleague. A thought formed in her mind. There could be only one reason why Constance found the situation so amusing.

"Constance that was an unbelievably cruel thing to do." Imogen rose to her feet and raged at her colleague. "I know you've got a mean streak in you but even I didn't think you'd go that far."

Constance opened her mouth to reply but Davina chose that moment to collapse into a sobbing heap.

"The key Constance. The key." Imogen stormed across the staff room until she was toe to toe with the tall potions teacher.

"I don't have the key." Constance's voice was icy and clipped as she stared down her nose at her colleague.

"Don't lie to me Constance. She didn't lock herself out of that cupboard. I want that key now."

Wordlessly Constance folded her arms and disappeared from the room.

A plaintive wail from Davina dragged Imogen back to the situation at hand and she turned back to the distraught chanting teacher and tried her best to comfort her.

It was several minutes and many unsuccessful attempts later when she heard a quiet tapping on the door.

She looked down at the sobbing mess that was Davina Bat and decided that she needed a little support of her own.

"Come in Haldane." She called out, fairly certain that it was the actor at the door.

Slowly the door opened and sure enough, Haldane was standing there.

"What's going on in here?" He asked gently. He looked towards Imogen. "You're alright aren't you?"

She smiled back at him.

"I'm fine." She reassured him. "It's Miss Bat. Someone locked her out of her cupboard."

Haldane's eyebrows shot up.

"Her cupboard?"

Imogen shrugged her shoulders, wishing for the umpteenth time that the teachers of the academy were a little less eccentric, and smiled in what she hoped was a winning manner.

"Miss Bat likes to seek a little solitude when the world gets too much for her. But it appears that some 'kind' soul has locked her out."

Haldane looked immediately guilty.

"I'm afraid that would be me." He confessed. "I didn't realise that it was used as a… as a…. and well I thought that if I left it open the students might get in and steal things." He moved across to the mantelpiece and picked up a small brass key. "I think this what you're looking for."

"Thank you." Imogen took the key and swiftly unlocked the cupboard door. Davina shot to her feet with a speed that Imogen hadn't thought she was capable of. In a single move, she snatched the key from her hand and pulled the door open. Dropping the key into her mouth she dived into the cupboard and slammed the door shut behind her.

Imogen pushed a hand through her hair and turned to smile at Haldane, hoping that he wouldn't ask her to explain what had just happened.

"I'm sorry for any trouble." He told her sincerely.

"It's ok." She tried to brush the matter under the carpet.

"I didn't know it wasn't meant to be locked."

"That's ok." She smiled again. A thought then flashed through her mind and her face dropped. "Constance?" She closed her eyes and thought back to the accusation she had levelled at her colleague.

"Are you ok?" Haldane inquired, concerned by the way that all the colour had drained from Imogen's face.

"How do you feel about frogs?" She asked him.

Haldane shrugged his shoulders.

"They're fine I guess." He was more than a little confused at what appeared to be an abrupt change of subject.

"If you happen to see one hopping about here this afternoon, you won't stomp on it will you?"

"I'll try my hardest not to." He assured her. "Do you think it's likely that the place will suddenly become a haven for frogs?"

"I hope not." Imogen admitted. "It just depends on what sort of mood Miss Hardbroom is in."

* * *

Mildred ducked back into the shadows as she heard the door to the sickbay open. A part of her was afraid that she'd see Haldane emerging from the room. She knew that he was supposed to be engaged elsewhere but there was no guaranteeing that he wouldn't just wonder off and do whatever he wanted. She knew that her friends would cover for him if he did. 

She was somewhat relieved to see Miss Cackle emerge from the room and felt a little guilty about hiding from her headmistress. She waited until Miss Cackle was out of sight before stepping out into the light and walking up to the door.

She tapped gently on the wooden door and a part of her hoped that there wouldn't be any answer. Her heart sank as she heard a faint voice telling her to come in. Taking a deep breath, she pushed down on the latch and opened the door.

"Hi." She raised a hand in greeting.

"Hey Mildred." Fenella tried to inject some enthusiasm into her tone but Mildred wasn't fooled.

"I just came to see if you were ok." Mildred hung back by the door.

"It's not catching." Fenny smiled weakly and indicated that Millie should move further into the room.

Reluctantly Mildred crossed the room and sat down on the chair that was placed next to the bed.

"Everyone's been wanting to come and see you." Mildred began.

"Is that why you're the first one in here?"

Mildred stared down at her feet.

"Everyone's been really busy with the play that Haldane's putting on." Her voice tailed off as she realised what she was saying.

Fenella laughed hollowly.

"Trust me Mildred when I say that I've really not thought about the play recently."

"Sorry."

Fenny looked at Mildred and she forced a half-smile onto her face.

"No I'm sorry Mildred. It was good of you to come and see me." She paused. "How is everyone?"

Mildred shrugged her shoulders.

"Ok I guess." She shuffled in her seat. "What does it feel like?"

"What?"

"I'm sorry." Mildred apologised immediately, wishing that she'd never opened her mouth. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to say anything."

Fenella shrugged her shoulders.

"It's ok. I'm guessing you're asking about the whole loss of magic thing?" She looked at Mildred's wide-eyed expression and forced her face into a smile. "It doesn't hurt you know."

"I'm sorry I asked." Mildred apologised again. "I really didn't mean to upset you."

"I know that." Fenella smoothed out the blankets that covered the bed and kept her eyes focussed on them. "It feels as though I've lost a part of myself." She shook her head and let out a half laugh. "Can you remember the first spell that you cast?"

Mildred nodded.

"Can you remember thinking that if one spell was so complicated there was no way that you'd be able to remember a whole load of them?"

Mildred let out a nervous laugh.

"I still feel like that at times." She confessed.

"But you don't have to think about the simple things anymore do you? You do them without really thinking about them don't you? You think about a spell and there it is on the tip of your tongue without you giving it a second thought." Fenella let out a sigh. "I think of a spell and there's nothing there; the words just don't come anymore. That little spark of…something…something magical… it just isn't there."

Mildred looked at Fenella and wished she knew what to say to make the older girl feel better. Fenny and Gris had been practically the only older girls to speak to them when they'd arrived at the school. Since then, the pair of them had always been on hand to help out whenever they'd gotten themselves into situations they couldn't get out of.

"I don't know what to say." She finally confessed.

"Well at least you're honest about it." Fenella forced another smile. "The only other people to visit me so far have been teachers and on the whole they've been unbearable. They're all trying to be so nice about it and yet not mention it at the same time."

"I can't imagine HB being nice." Mildred confessed. Fenny smiled at the comment.

"She's been about the only one who's not lied to me and told me that everything will be ok in the morning. I don't think I like being lied to. I'd rather face up to the facts that I may never be able to practice magic again."

"But…" Mildred was almost at a loss for words; she hadn't thought that things were as bad as that. "Surely you can start learning again?"

Fenella shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know that I can face that." She confessed. "I know that there are witches who don't come from witch families." She smiled at Mildred. "I know that that makes things a little harder but I've always had magic in my life. From the time I was able to speak my mother was teaching me spells and incantations. I can't remember one of them and I don't think that I can go through learning all that again."

Mildred stared down at her boots.

"The place wouldn't be the same without you Fenny." She confessed. "I think you should do whatever it takes to stay here." She looked up in surprise as she heard Fenella laugh. "What's so funny?"

"That's what HB said." Fenella rolled her eyes. "Well she didn't use those exact words but that was the general gist of it."

Mildred wasn't sure what to say. She wasn't used to people comparing her to HB. She was saved from having to say anything by a gentle knock at the door. After a brief pause the door opened and Griselda Blackwood stuck her head around the small gap that she'd made.

"Permission to enter?" She asked nervously.

"Permission granted." Fenella smiled, pleased to see that her friend had finally summoned up the courage to come and see her.

"I'll come and see you again." Mildred told Fenella as she left the room.

"Thanks for coming Mildred." Fenny told her gratefully. "It was good to see you."

* * *

Imogen stood and stared down at her feet. She wanted to raise her head and meet the gaze of the person standing in front of her but she found that for some reason she couldn't. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and wished that she was somewhere else entirely. 

"Well?" The question was asked and there was an impatient snap in the voice.

Imogen swallowed nervously.

"I'm sorry." Her words came out as more of a whisper than a clear apology and she heard an impatient sigh from the figure in front of her. She shuffled her feet again and suddenly understood why so many of the pupils were in fear of Constance Hardbroom. She didn't have to say anything to let you know that she was displeased, there was just an air that she had that left you in no doubt as to her feelings.

Upon realising that she owed Constance an apology, she'd stood in the centre of the staff room and called out Constance's name but the bemused expression on Haldane's face had made her rethink her approach. Although he'd seen Constance arrive out of thin air once already, she didn't think that he really understood that she could be in the vicinity even when you couldn't see her.

Finally, she settled for sending one of the first years to the potions lab with a note and then paced nervously around the staff room waiting to see what would happen next.

After a few moments of nervous pacing she had settled onto one of the chairs and fixed her eyes on the door. It was whilst she'd been staring at the door that she had heard the impatient sigh from behind her. She'd risen to her feet to see Constance leaning against the fireplace, her lips pursed with obvious displeasure. The way that Haldane had sworn and leapt to his feet had indicated that he was more than a little shocked at her silent entry into the room.

"Look I've said I'm sorry." Imogen finally managed shake the unease that had settled on her shoulders and found her voice again. "I don't know what else to say."

Haldane stepped in.

"I really should take some of the blame. I didn't know about the cupboard and I was only trying to help."

"You were trying to help by being in the staff room?" The question was fired fiercely at Haldane.

"I just popped in to collect a book that I'd left behind.

"You just 'popped in'?"

"Yes."

"And prey tell who gave you the run of the school?"

"That would be me." Imogen took a step forward, wishing that she didn't feel as though she was one of the pupils at that moment.

"Hhmm. I see." Constance turned away from the pair of them and stared into the fire.

Haldane leant over and whispered to Imogen.

"Is she always like this?"

"Sshh." The last thing that Imogen wanted to do was annoy Constance further. Haldane though, wasn't taking the hint. He leant towards her.

"I almost wish that a hole would open up in the ground and just swallow me up." Constance's mouth twitched and she turned her head to face the pair.

"That could be arranged." She told him calmly. Haldane did a perfect double take and then whispered to Imogen.

"Could she really do that?"

Imogen nodded slowly and Haldane's face drained of colour.

"I really am sorry Miss Hardbroom." He tried to assure her.

"Hhmmm."

"Constance, he's said he's sorry, I've said I'm sorry. I don't know what more you expect us to do."

"Get out of my way and let my lessons return to normal." She glared at the pair of them. "But I know that that's not likely to happen any time soon." She leant towards Haldane. "If I were you I'd be more careful with the things that you chose to interfere with in this school. Some things aren't always as benign as they look."

Feeling that she'd made her point, Constance made her way from the room. As the door closed behind her Haldane let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"I really thought that she was going to do something nasty to me."

Imogen grinned at him.

"There are rules against using magic for personal or trivial ends."

"You think me disappearing into the ground would be a trivial thing?" Haldane put on an expression of mock outrage.

"I'm sure Constance would see it as a trivial thing."

"Great!" He looked around at the empty staff room. "So it's just you and me again."

"Don't forget that Miss Bat has shut herself in the cupboard." Imogen pointed out, not sure if she was happy with the way that the conversation appeared to be going.

Haldane smiled at her and she felt her heart flip flop. She shook her head and reminded herself that she was already seeing someone. Perhaps Miss Hardbroom had a point when she said that Haldane's presence in the school was something of a distraction. She had to confess that she rather liked the distraction.

Haldane sat down and indicated that she should join him.

"It's nice to get another chance to talk to you." He told her. "I'm beginning to understand how it feels to be out of place in this school." He jerked a hand towards the fireplace. "Does everyone get off on the vanishing act?"

Imogen shook her head.

"That's just Constance." She reassured him. "It's something of a trademark now."

Haldane frowned.

"But surely any witch can do that… I mean if they all learn the same spells and whatever you call them?"

"Incantations." Imogen supplied the word for him. "All witches are different." She reminded him. "Not all of them are as dedicated and adept at their craft as others." She nodded towards the stationary cupboard and lowered her voice. "I don't think Miss Bat could make herself disappear if her life depended on it." She smiled. "But she does ride her broom with a certain panache."

Haldane shook his head.

"These ladies still ride brooms?"

"Oh yes," Imogen assured him. "They still have cats and they still ride brooms."

Haldane smiled and leant back in his chair.

"It's been a real eye opener coming here." He admitted. "I wonder how many people out there realise just what magic really does still exist in the world?"

"There are more schools than you might expect." Imogen drew her knees up to her chest. "And there are specialist schools for wizards as well, although I'm not allowed to visit those."

"Just because you're not a witch?"

Imogen pulled a face.

"Exactly. The magic community isn't exactly what you could call progressive."

Haldane tapped his fingers together.

"I've half a mind to shake up the whole community."

"What?"

"Oh nothing." He assured Imogen. "I was just thinking out loud."


	8. Chapter 8

_There is more on the way soon, I've just been a little too busy with work this week to post earlier. Again thanks for reading and reviewing._

* * *

Maud glared at the cauldron on the desk in front of her for the umpteenth time as she tried to make the potion work. It wasn't supposed to be that hard she told herself as she ran her eyes over the list of ingredients again.

Taking in a deep breath, she looked at the contents of the cauldron and then again at the incantation that was supposed to combine with the potion. She was going to try the spell one last time before she finally admitted defeat. Closing her eyes and holding her arms out in front of her, she began the incantation.

When she'd finished the incantation she kept her eyes firmly shut and then crossed her fingers for good luck. There was nothing but silence to fill her ears. Maud was certain that there should at the very least have been a popping sound from the mixture. She slowly opened one eye and looked at the contents of the cauldron. Her heart sank as she realised that nothing seemed to have happened. She opened the other eye and uncrossed her finger and that was when the explosion took place.

Constance Hardbroom had been patrolling the 1st years corridor as was her usual habit at that time of the evening when the explosion rocked the building. She steadied herself and then closed her eyes, working out where in the castle the explosion had originated. Folding her arms, she sighed heavily and disappeared from view.

"Mildred Hubb… Maud Moonshine." Constance quickly corrected herself upon arriving in the lab and confronting the guilty student. "What on earth do you think you are doing?"

"Sorry Miss Hardbroom." Maud did her best to look suitably sorry. In fact it wasn't that much of an effort. If she was honest with herself there were still times when the stern Potions teacher scared the life out of her. Ever since that first day at the Academy when HB had disappeared in front of her eyes, she had felt a nagging sense of unease. There was no way of knowing exactly where HB was at any time. They had promised to have regular midnight feasts soon after arriving at Cackles but Maud had quickly made her excuses not to attend; she had always been convinced that Miss Hardbroom was eavesdropping on them somehow. Mildred had told her not to worry but somehow Mildred's reassurances did little to give her confidence. She would have had more belief in Mildred if her friend weren't constantly in Hardbroom's bad books.

"Well girl?"

Maud looked up and swallowed nervously as she realised that Miss Hardbroom was waiting for an explanation as to what she'd been doing. The acrid smell of smoke hung heavy and the air was literally turning blue around her.

"I was… well… I was…." Maud stammered, failing to put a coherent sentence together.

Miss Hardbroom sighed heavily and peered through the blue fog, trying to maintain eye contact with the guilty party.

"Well I'm glad we cleared that up." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "May I suggest to you Maud Moonshine that in future you limit your inept dabbling in the potion world to the work that I set you."

"Yes Miss Hardbroom, sorry Miss Hardbroom."

Constance Hardbroom leant forward and stared at the burnt, foul smelling embers that coated what was left of the inside of the cauldron.

"What on earth were you trying to make?" She glanced sideways at Maud, immediately on the alert, suspecting some second year crackpot scheme.

"I was…" The words dried in Maud's mouth.

"Well?"

Maud watched as an eyebrow arched and she swallowed nervously.

"I was just trying out a concoction of my own."

"Really!" The left eyebrow shot up to join the right and turned Miss Hardbroom's expression from one of suspicion to one of disbelief. "That's very industrious Maud Moonshine, very commendable and very very unlike you." The expression narrowed. "What are you really up to?"

"I wanted to do something to get myself into the play that Haldane is organising." Maud confessed reluctantly.

"Oh the play." Constance's voice dropped as she reached the word play. "Why am I not surprised that Mr Harrington and his 'play' are seemingly at the centre of everything that is going on in this school at the moment?" She leaned in and looked at the contents of the cauldron again. "And prey tell, what exactly were you trying to concoct?"

"Just something to get Mr Harrington to notice me."

"Well Maud Moonshine if you go round blowing up cauldrons and coating the walls with blue goo you are more than likely to get yourself noticed; statistically it's only a matter of time before Mr Harrington is the person who notices."

"Yes Miss Hardbroom."

"But you won't be trying this again will you Maud?"

"No Miss Hardbroom. Sorry Miss Hardbroom."

"I suggest you spend the rest of the evening attempting to clean up the mess you have made of my potions lab."

"Yes Miss Hardbroom." Maud paused, she was sure that there was more coming. "What should I do when I've finished?"

"Maud?"

"Are there lines or…"

"Life is not a play Maud Moonshine, not everything is based around lines be they written or spoken."

"But …."

"Clear it up girl. Do I need to repeat myself?"

"No Miss." Maud said with more than a note of surprise in her voice as Constance faded into nothingness. She had been certain that HB was going to give her several hundred lines or detention at least. She certainly had not been expecting to get off so lightly.

She shook her head with wonderment and then, as the blue cloud began to dissipate, took in the mess that her cauldron had made and her face dropped. Maybe clearing up wasn't such an easy task after all.

* * *

Mildred peered around the corner and checked to see if the way was clear. She was supposed to be studying in her room but she'd not been able to settle to it. After a few minutes of staring down at a blank sheet of paper she'd finally made her mind up to go and see Fenella again. There was a question that was nagging away at the back of her mind and she wanted the chance to get an answer to it.

She ducked back into the shadows as the door to the staff room opened and Miss Bat exited the room. Mildred held her breath until she was certain that the chanting teacher wasn't heading in her direction. There was a part of her that was tempted to follow and find out where she was going. Speculation had been rife amongst the students as to what the teachers got up to once the school day was over. Enid had tried to run a book on it last term but as no one had ever been able to find out the answers, the money had remained uncollected. Mildred imagined that Miss Bat spent her evenings talking to plants or singing to them; there were certainly times that she seemed more at home with nature than she did with the pupils or other members of staff.

Forcing her mind back on to the purpose of her journey, Mildred looked up and down the corridor before darting out from the shadows and heading towards the room where they'd quarantined Fenella.

She'd only covered a few metres before she heard a male voice muttering quietly. Acting on impulse Mildred ducked back into the shadows. Common sense told her that the male voice could only belong to one of two people, neither of whom was likely to know that she shouldn't be out of her room at this hour but she didn't want to take the chance.

The voice came nearer and Mildred forced herself further back into the shadows. She quickly decided that the voice was too deep to be Mr Blossom's, which only left Haldane as the speaker.

"Well when are you going to get here?" The tone that she heard him use was far more impatient than usual.

There was a pause and Mildred reasoned that Haldane must be using a mobile. A spark of jealousy ran through her; what she and the others wouldn't give to be allowed to bring phones into the school. Miss Cackle had relented and allowed stereos and MP3 players to be brought onto the premises but the change in the rules had never registered with Miss Hardbroom and she still insisted on whisking away anything that looked as though it belonged to the present day.

"Have you picked up everything that I asked you to?" Haldane demanded to know from the person on the other end of the connection. "No I don't want to delay things." He continued after a few moments. "I think I've found a suitable test subject for the bands. No of course they don't suspect anything. I'm a professional or had you forgotten?"

Mildred let out a slow breath. She had no real idea what Haldane was talking about but she didn't like the sound of it. She strained her ears to listen further to the conversation but Haldane appeared to be moving away from her. Moments later she heard a door slam shut and the sound of his voice faded away completely.

Mildred's mind was racing as she tried to process what she had just heard. Although he'd not said anything that proved he was up to something, she found that she couldn't shake the worry that was fast settling around her shoulders. She made to move from her place in the shadows when she saw, rather than heard, a figure approaching.

Miss Hardbroom swept past her, heading for the staff room. Mildred breathed a sigh of relief as she realised that she'd escaped detection. Skulking around in the corridors was becoming harder than she'd first imagined.

* * *

Constance shut the staff room door behind her and moved to stand near the fireplace, noticing with relief that Miss Bat was nowhere to be seen. If there was one thing the upcoming conversation didn't need, it was the inane ramblings of Davina Bat.

"I really think it would be best if Haldane and the others were somewhere that wasn't here." Constance announced.

Miss Cackle sighed.

"You've made that perfectly clear Constance but unfortunately if we are to establish an effective quarantine here in the school that involves no-one leaving as well as no-one entering."

Constance let out an impatient sigh.

"Well can we at least stop this pantomime that is masquerading as a play?"

"I'm sorry but I happen to think that it is just what we need to keep our minds off of what is going on."

"I have just encountered Maud Moonshine who has managed to blow up one of the cauldrons and coat the walls of my lab with blue goo in an effort to impress Mr Haldane Harrington." Constance pursed her lips. "And I've just seen Mildred Hubble lurking around in the shadows as though she imagined that I couldn't see her. Quite what she thinks she is doing is beyond me, but if she is still there in five minutes then I will certainly be having a few words with her."

Amelia suppressed a smile.

"Well at least Haldane's engaging the girls."

"It's what else he's doing to them that worries me."

"Constance!"

"Well anything could be happening." She protested. "We don't know anything about him."

"I know that he's taking the girl's minds off of what has happened to Fenella and he seems to have stopped them worrying about whether it could happen to them."

"What I want to know is what he's filling their heads with." She began pacing backwards and forwards across the room. "I've yet to see any information as to what play his little group intends to put on."

Miss Cackle watched her deputy as she paced and, despite herself, she had to admit that she was interested in finding out exactly what it was that Haldane was intending to do with the girls.

"I'll have a word with Mr Harrington in the morning and see if I can't find out a few details about the upcoming play."

"I'm sure it'll be entirely unsuitable subject matter for our girls." Constance snapped at her.

"Be that as it may, I think it's important that the pupils have some other focus at this time."

"Other focus? Other focus? What's so very wrong with having the girls focus all their energies on work? That's how it was in my day and it never did me any harm."

Miss Cackle bit back the response that came immediately to her mind. Privately she thought that a more relaxed upbringing, away from the persecution of Mistress Broomhead, would have done a young Constance the world of good. She thought it wise to keep her opinions to herself though and made sure that she kept the conversation firmly on the subject of the play.

"Miss Drill has spent more time than either of us in the company of Mr Harrington. When she comes back from her run I'll endeavour to find out what she makes of him."

Constance pursed her lips.

"I think it's plain for all to see exactly what Miss Drill makes of Mr Harrington."

"Are you spreading rumours Constance?" Miss Cackle raised an eyebrow. "That's very unlike you."

Constance let out an impatient sigh refusing to rise to the bait.

"If you'll excuse me, I think I should check in on Fenella." Her face took on a concerned expression. "There's been no improvement in her condition. She's not responded at all to the introduction of a little external magic."

Miss Cackle frowned, all thoughts of teasing Miss Hardbroom banished from her mind.

"We really need to sort this matter out." She agreed. "At least it appears to be an isolated incident."

"I'm sure that's not much of a consolation to Fenella."

Miss Cackle remained silent. Constance had made a very valid point but she was well aware that there was another issue that neither of them was tackling head on. If Fenella didn't recover any of her magical abilities then there was no way that she could be allowed to continue at Cackles. She would have to be asked to leave and neither of them wanted to be the one to break that news to her.

"I managed to get word to the Grand Wizard." She finally announced. "He was pleased that we instigated a quarantine rule but he doesn't have any idea as to what might have happened. He's promised to investigate and get back to us as soon as he comes up with anything."

Constance nodded.

"Perhaps he will manage to come up with something useful." She turned towards the door. "I hope for Fenella's sake that one of us can."

* * *

Having finally finished scraping the gunk from the walls of the potions lab, Maud made her way back towards her room. She was surprised to bump into Mildred en route.

"I thought you'd be studying." She chastised her friend. "Going by the results you got in the last test I thought study was going to be your first priority."

Mildred pulled a face.

"I couldn't concentrate." She told her friend. "Plus my room's so cold I keep losing all feeling in my hands. I was trying to see Fenella but I didn't get very far." She looked at Maud's slightly frazzled appearance. "I take it your evening didn't go as planned either?"

Maud nodded guiltily.

"I tried something to get into the play." She looked at Mildred. "I hope you don't mind?"

"Course I don't. I was the one that told you to try something." Mildred reassured her friend. "What happened?"

Maud pulled a face.

"It went wrong." Maud was expecting to have to fend off more questions when Mildred suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. Surprised by Mildred's abrupt halt she cannoned into the back of her friend.

"What's up Millie?"

Mildred pointed towards the small group ahead of them where Haldane was bowing neatly to Ethel and Drusilla.

"I bet he's just been talking to them about magic again." She whispered as she watched him make his farewells and head off down the corridor.

"So what if he was." Maud exclaimed in an exasperated tone. "He's already made it clear that he's interested in what we can do."

Mildred shook her head.

"I think he's up to something." She squared up her shoulders. "I'm going to ask Ethel and Drusilla what he was talking about. I bet you a cake at Cosies that it was magic related."

"This _is_ a witches school." Maud reminded her. "Conversations about magic aren't exactly unusual."

Mildred ignored her friend and strode towards Ethel and Drusilla.

"Can I have a word with you two?"

What do you want Mildred Hubble?" Ethel snapped.

"Has Haldane been talking to you about magic again?" Mildred demanded to know.

Ethel looked at Mildred as though she had no right in asking the question.

"Why should you care what Haldane has been saying? It's not as though you've got anything to do with the play."

"Ethel please." Mildred didn't want to be dragged into yet another argument with her classmate. "Has Haldane been trying to find out more about magic?"

"Not that it's any of your concern but yes he's asked a couple of questions. Why?"

Mildred exchanged as nervous look with Maud.

"I told you he was up to something."

"That doesn't prove anything." Maud protested. "Whenever I go home, all my mother wants to talk about is magic."

"Yeah but your mother knows all about magic, she wants to know what you're learning."

"All of this is fascinating." Ethel broke into the conversation. "But do you actually have anything to say?"

"Haldane is up to something and I think you should be very careful of him."

"What?" Ethel looked towards Drusilla and rolled her eyes. "You are so pathetic."

"You're just jealous." Drusilla sneered.

"No." Mildred protested. "It's not like that."

"So Mildred Hubble, tell us what it is like." Ethel took a pace forward until she was toe to toe with Mildred. "It's just like you to come up with some half-baked theory but I can't believe that you expect us to believe it."

"She's just bitter because she didn't get a part in the play." Drusilla moved in behind Ethel. "We all know you were desperate to impress Haldane."

"Ok. Maybe I was at the beginning." Mildred conceded. "But I'm not anymore. I really think he's up to something."

"Turn it off Mildred; we're not going to listen to a thing you have to say." Ethel pushed a finger into Mildred's shoulder. "This is one event that you are not going to take over and ruin."

"Come on Mildred." Maud pulled at her arm. "If they don't want to listen there's nothing we can do about it."

Reluctantly Mildred had to agree that Maud had a point and she turned away from Ethel and Drusilla.

"That's right." Ethel taunted her. "Get back to your study. HB will blow her stack if you're not in your rooms when she comes to check on you."

"She's right." Maud tried again to get her friend to ignore Ethel. "Let's just go."

Reluctantly Mildred let Maud pull her away and back towards the stairs.

"I tell you that he's up to something." She insisted. "Fenny was helping him out just before she..."

"Millie I don't want to hear any more of this. It's ridiculous."

"It isn't." Mildred protested. "Just think about it for a second."

Maud stopped in her tracks and spun round to face her friend.

"I have thought about it Mildred and I can't believe that you'd even think such a thing. It's a terrible thing that's happened to Fenny and I really feel for her but I don't see how you can try and blame Haldane for it."

"Well she was helping him out." Mildred tried to explain herself. "She was seeing him the night before she lost her powers."

"She also saw us the night before. Are you going to try and say that I'm responsible for it next?"

"Of course not." Mildred shook her head. "I can't explain the feeling Maud; I just don't trust him."

"You've been spending too much time in detention with HB; you're beginning to sound just like her." Maud complained as she headed up the stairs. Mildred stared after her friend for a moment before following her. She thought about trying to explain about the phonecall she'd overheard earlier but doubted that her friend was in the mood to listen to anything negative about Haldane. She shivered, trying to lose the feeling of unease that the thought of Haldane now gave her. The only way to convince Maud that something was wrong was to go out and find evidence. That, she told herself, was going to be the next step.


	9. Chapter 9

_Just because you've all been so well behaved here's another part... Well ok, it just happens to be ready earlier than I thought. Hope you enjoy_

* * *

Miss Cackle leaned out of the window and frowned as she realised that the main gates were open. They were supposed to be locked. Although the pupils always complained that they were only shut to keep them from escaping, the truth was that the gates were very good at keeping the outside world out. During her time as a teacher she'd learnt that not everyone was as tolerant towards witches as they could be and she wanted to protect her girls from such negative reactions for as long as possible. She turned back as she heard the door open.

"Good evening Imogen." She greeted her colleague. "Did you by any chance leave the gates open when you came in from your run?"

"What?" Imogen made her way over to the window. She took in the main gates and smiled. "That wasn't me Miss Cackle, that was Haldane."

Imogen stood away from the window and took a chair by the blazing fire.

"I asked him to make sure that they were shut when he was finished."

"Finished?" Miss Cackle wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on in her school. "What is it that he is doing that requires 'finishing'?"

Imogen picked up the local paper from the table in front of her and turned to the sport pages.

"The rest of the players are returning tonight from…" She paused as she realised that she wasn't sure exactly where it was they had been. "From… somewhere." She waved a hand as though that would indicate their location.

"Aha. So I see Mr Harrington sees fit to ignore the quarantine ruling that has been imposed?"

Imogen immediately lowered the paper.

"I'd forgotten all about that."

"You can bet your life that Constance hasn't." Miss Cackle warned and Imogen's face became one of concern.

"I suppose it's too late to tell them to go?" She thought about things for a moment. "If there's a quarantine in operation how come I was allowed to go out on a run?"

Miss Cackle pulled a face.

"You weren't supposed to be allowed to go beyond the school gates." She grimaced. "I get the feeling both of us are about to be on the end of a stern lecture about duty and responsibility."

"Great!" Imogen returned her attention to the paper. After a few moments, she lowered it again. "I take it there's been no improvement with Fenella?"

Miss Cackle shook her head.

"She's still up in the sickbay at the moment. Miss Bat's looking after her."

"She's not intent on singing to her is she?"

"She was until Constance warned her that she ran the risk of catching the virus if she inhaled too much."

Imogen's eyes narrowed.

"But that's not true is it?"

"No dear. I'm afraid that we still have no real idea of what is causing the magic loss. Constance just wanted to try and make sure that Fenella's stay in sickbay was as comfortable and pain free as possible."

"Poor Miss Bat."

"I doubt you'd be saying that if she was threatening to sing at you from dawn till dusk."

* * *

Mildred looked round at the small gathering in her room and smiled inwardly; it was great to have the gang back again. Although Haldane had only been around for a few days, he'd pretty much taken over the school and all conversation seemed to revolve around him or his play. She'd assumed that rehearsals would last all evening and that she wouldn't get the chance to sit round and chat with Enid, Jadu and Ruby. She'd been pleasantly surprised to see them turn up at her door twenty minutes ago. 

She really wanted to ask them if Haldane had spoken to them about magic but Maud's words earlier were still ringing in her ears. She had been surprised at how upset her friend had seemed when she'd questioned whether Haldane might be up to something. She didn't understand why Maud was being so protective towards him.

She was jolted back to the here and now as there was the unmistakable sound of an engine back firing.

"That's not Mr Blossom's van is it?" Maud queried. The other girls shook their heads immediately. With so few vehicles entering or leaving the premises, they'd grown accustomed to the distinctive sound of each engine.

"Well who else could it be?" She wanted to know.

The girls looked at each other in turn until the penny finally dropped.

"Haldane's players." Ruby exclaimed and there was suddenly a mad dash to get to the window.

"Let me see." Jadu complained as the others crowded her out.

"There really isn't anything to see." Mildred assured her as she tried to dodge away from Enid's sharp elbows.

The engine finally died away and two figures climbed from the front of the van.

"They don't look much like actors do they?" Mildred noted.

"What d'you expect actors to look like?" Jadu countered.

Mildred shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm not sure really but not like these guys."

Silence fell amongst the girls as they contented themselves with watching what was happening outside. The two who had climbed from the van were now opening up the back of it and three more of Haldane's team emerged.

"Wonder who the new one is?" Enid mused, remembering that there had only been four of them in the beginning.

There was the sound of a door opening somewhere below them and Haldane appeared in the courtyard moments later.

"What are they saying?" Maud had strained to hear what was being said but had no luck.

"More to the point, what is that?" Enid chipped in, pointing at the tarpaulin-covered item that was now being manhandled from the back of the van.

"It looks really heavy." Mildred noted. "What do you think it is?"

"Some prop for the show." Enid suggested but Mildred was less than convinced.

"But what could you possibly need in the show that was that size?"

Enid tapped the side of her nose.

"You know I can't tell you anything about the play. It's a secret."

"Well I think it's stupid." Mildred told her. "I don't see why the rest of us can't know what it is you're doing."

"Haldane wants it to be a surprise to everyone. He doesn't want information leaking out as that would spoil everything."

"I bet HB will demand to know what it is." Mildred warned her but Enid shook her head.

"No-one's going to know what's in the play. That includes HB."

Mildred looked round at the other girls in the room. She felt as though Haldane and his play were taking over the school. There was no way that HB would stand for the subject matter of the play being a surprise. Mildred doubted that anything they plotted and planned in the school came as a surprise to Miss Hardbroom as the teacher seemed to hear and see everything. For a moment, she entertained the idea of going to see HB and asking her what she thought of Haldane but she quickly dismissed the idea and turned her attention back to the conversation that was taking place in the room.

"How come you're not down there helping Haldane to carry things in?" Maud wanted to know as she tickled Tabby behind the ears.

"We will be." Ruby told her. "Haldane's asked that we go and help him when he's got everything in the building."

"So you're off again in a minute then?" Mildred asked, trying not to let the disappointment show in her voice.

"Yep." Ruby confirmed. "Haldane wants a hand with setting things up."

"Ruby thinks that she can blind him with her scientific know-how." Enid teased her friend.

"I do not." She smiled back. "Not that I wouldn't mind the opportunity to spend a few hours talking to him." She sighed. "He really is heavenly."

Mildred sighed heavily.

"I can't believe that the three of you are still fawning over him."

Maud cleared her throat and Mildred sighed again.

"Sorry." She apologised sarcastically. "I can't believe that the four of you are still fawning over him."

"It's not fawning." Jadu argued. "We just like him, that's all." Saying that, she rose to her feet. "Shouldn't we go and see if Haldane wants a hand yet?"

Enid looked guiltily at Mildred before agreeing.

"Sorry Millie but we really should go and see if we can help him." She rose to her feet. "You don't mind, do you?"

Maud and Mildred both shook their heads.

"It's fine." They assured their friends.

Maud watched the others go.

"You know I think I'm actually looking forward to him leaving."

Mildred smiled.

"Does this mean that you're starting to change your opinion of him?"

No." Maud confessed. "I still think he's great. I'm just looking forward to having the others back again." She lifted Tabby from her lap and placed him down on the bed. "I'm going to try and get some revision done. I get the feeling that HB's likely to start springing tests on us without warning."

"Mmm." Mildred cast her mind back over the past couple of days. "I don't think that she likes having Haldane here."

Maud smiled as she headed for the door.

"I don't think she likes having anyone here who isn't a witch. I bet she blocks her chimney up at Christmas to stop Santa getting in and nails the windows shut to keep out the tooth fairy."

Mildred watched as the door closed behind her friend before turning her attention to Tabby.

"Right then Tabs, want to test me on a few simple spells?" She plonked the book down on the bed in front of the cat and watched as Tabby hopped off the bed and headed over to the corner of the room he liked to call his own. "Coward!" She called after him before picking up the book and trying to concentrate her mind on the words in front of her.

* * *

"Mr Harrington will be here shortly." Miss Cackle scurried down the corridor, trying to keep pace with Miss Hardbroom. "Imogen agreed to have a word with him and he's going to stop by the staff room. That should give us the ideal opportunity of finding out what his play is going to be about." 

Constance scowled. As far as she was concerned, there shouldn't be a play, and if there absolutely had to be one then they should have been the ones to choose the subject matter. She opened her mouth to explain her thoughts on the subject but quickly shut it again. She'd already made it perfectly clear how she felt and therefore didn't see the need to repeat herself.

She opened the door to the staff room and took in the presence of Miss Bat who was seated in one of the comfortable chairs by the fire. She was picking at her knitting as though trying to remember what pattern she had been attempting to follow. Constance cast her eyes over the misshapen multi-coloured mess that sat on Davina's lap and shook her head.

"I take it that you haven't simply abandoned Fenella?" There was a definite threat in Constance's tone. Miss Bat shook her head nervously and dropped another couple of stitches.

"Griselda is sitting with her." She stammered in reply.

"Well at least that's an hour away from your interminable twittering." Constance mused as she took up her accustomed place at the window.

Miss Bat opened her mouth to say something but swiftly changed her mind and concentrated all her attentions on the number 6 needle that seemed to be giving her no end of trouble.

Amelia followed her deputy into the room and listened to the exchange. There were times when Constance still had the ability to surprise her. She knew that Constance liked to maintain the image of being aloof and somehow immune to the events around her so it was a surprise to see her worrying so much about the state of Fenella's health.

Amelia settled into her chair and waited for Imogen and Haldane to join them. There was a part of her that was dreading the meeting. She had to find out from Haldane what the play was going to be about and if Constance took exception to the subject matter then an argument was definitely on the cards. She sighed and wished for the umpteenth time that people would just learn to get along.

She raised her head expectantly as the door to the staff room creaked open. Imogen strolled into the room with a broad smile on her face.

"Haldane's just settling his group in and then he'll be right over."

Constance sighed heavily at the prospect of the wait whilst the others did their best to ignore her impatience.

"Ladies, ladies." Haldane finally swept into the room and bowed to the assembled teachers. "I hope that you will all honour me with your presence in the Great Hall tomorrow night?"

Miss Cackle pulled her glasses from her nose and rubbed at a speck of dirt on one of the lenses.

"Could you tell us Mr Harrington exactly what play you will be performing?"

Haldane shook his head slowly.

"I'm sorry Miss Cackle but I have been sworn to secrecy." He saw the concern on her face. "I can assure you that it's nothing that will offend anyone here."

"Hhmm." Constance muttered disbelievingly.

Haldane turned to face her and bowed in her direction.

"Forgive me if I'm speaking out of turn." He apologised to her. "But I get the distinct impression that you are not looking forward to the production that the girls will be putting on."

Constance glared at him but didn't reply. If Haldane was bothered by her silence, he didn't let it show.

"I'm sure you will all be amazed by the performance you will witness." He assured them. "I can promise you that it will be a night to remember."

"Well I'm looking forward to it." Miss Bat told him and glared at Constance as she sighed heavily. "Unlike some of the people here I appreciate all the work that you've put in."

"We are all entitled to our opinions." Haldane reminded her. "But I'm sure that we will all be there to support the girls on the night."

"Of course we will." Miss Cackle butted in, aware that little exchanges like this between Constance and Davina had a nasty habit of sparking into full-blown rows. She really didn't want to have Haldane witnessing one of those.

A flash of fear spiked through her as she thought of the last parent's evening. Actually, it had been the first ever parents evening, and if she had her way, it would also be the last. Imogen had told her that her previous school had held these evenings and gained a lot from them. Against her better judgement, she had agreed to host one. The evening had appeared to be going well until one of the parents happened to ask which part of the school curriculum was valued as the most important. With hindsight, Miss Cackle realised that she should have stressed that each subject had its own merits but she hadn't had time to answer before a spat broke out between Miss Bat and Miss Hardbroom.

When it reached a head Miss Hardbroom simply vanished from the room whilst any parent who wanted to talk to Miss Bat for the rest of the night had had to do so by shouting through the door of the stock cupboard.

She shook her head and tried to shake the fear that was now beginning to settle around her shoulders. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea if Miss Hardbroom did decide to boycott the evening.

Haldane bowed again to the assembled group and explained that he still had a lot of work to do before departing the room.

Imogen turned to face Constance the moment that Haldane had left the room.

"Don't you think you could try to be a little more supportive?"

Constance sighed.

"I have explained on numerous occasions in the past few days my views on Haldane and his presence within these walls. I do not see why it should be necessary for me to repeat myself."

Imogen frowned.

"But you are coming to see the play aren't you?"

"If Miss Cackle deems it a formal affair then I shall be there but otherwise…"

"The girls are putting a lot of effort into this." Imogen reminded her.

"I am sure they are." Constance agreed with her.

"So why are you being so negative about this?"

"You just want to make sure that the rest of us don't accidentally have any fun don't you?" Davina dropped her knitting onto her lap and glared up at Constance.

Constance raised her eyebrows.

"Don't you think you're getting a little over excited Davina?"

"You just can't stand the idea of the girls having fun, can you?" Miss Bat was on a roll now. Miss Cackle clasped a hand over her eyes and prayed that the argument would play itself out within minutes.

"Would you at least try and keep some sense of proportion?" Constance snapped back.

"Proportion…Proportion!" Miss Bat rose to her feet and pulled the baton from her hair, waving it in Constance's direction. "I'll tell you all about proportion."

Constance raised a hand.

"Can't we just pretend that I've listened to everything you have to say and bypass the rant that I fear you're about to launch into?"

Davina Bat narrowed her eyes and, not for the first time, wished that she had the perfect comeback for every situation in the same way that Constance seemed to.

"If you don't like it why don't you just get out of our way?" She shrieked back at the taller woman, aware that all she was missing to complete the picture of a spoilt child was the stamping of a foot.

Constance stared at the angry woman and then switched her gaze and took in the folded arms and defensive posture that Imogen had adopted.

"I take it that you are in agreement with Miss Bat?"

Imogen took a deep breath.

"I think she has a valid point. If you are so against this project then why are you here?" A thought sprang up in Imogen's head. "I bet you get a kick out of putting everyone down, don't you? I bet it does what passes for your heart good to think that you've ruined something that would otherwise be enjoyable for the girls."

Constance's mouth became nothing more than a hard line.

"Now Constance…" Miss Cackle tried to intervene but her deputy was not in the mood to listen to platitudes.

"If I am not permitted to hold my own views on this subject without being the victim of an unprovoked personal attack then I don't see how I can remain within the school."

"Constance there's no need to take this so hard." Amelia tried to intervene but her deputy wasn't prepared to listen.

"You have all made it abundantly clear that you don't wish to listen to my opinions on the subject of Haldane Harrington…."

"Constance please." Amelia implored her but Constance turned on her heel and headed for the door.

"I shall remove myself from the premises until this farce has been played out." She glared at Miss Bat and Miss Drill in turn. "I'm sure that will make you immeasurably happier. When I see Mr Harrington's vehicle departing I shall then return. Only then and not before."

"If you'd only…" Amelia's sentence petered out as she realised that she was talking to herself. She slapped her hands against her side in frustration and turned to face Imogen. "I was hoping to avoid that." She confessed. "I was hoping that she'd be a little more reasonable."

"Do you really think that she'll come back once Haldane has gone?" Imogen asked nervously, thinking that perhaps events had gone too far. She was reassured when Amelia nodded her head.

"She wouldn't abandon the girls." Amelia assured her. She frowned at the two women. "I know Constance wasn't exactly championing the event but I do think you were both a little hard on her."

"But she always does this." Imogen countered. "She always stares down her nose at every idea I come up with. And Haldane has really engaged the girls. I've never seen them so interested in something before."

Amelia wanted to disagree with Imogen but found that she couldn't. Maybe Constance leaving the school for a day was the best solution all round.

* * *

Mildred scratched a line through the sentence she had just written. She'd tried to settle down to studying but found that there were just too many distractions. First Tabby had thought that trying to play with the end of the pencil she was using to write with was the greatest game in the world; then Winky, Blinky and Nod had woken up and started flitting around the room. After that, things had just gone further downhill. Dropping the work onto the bed, Mildred rose to her feet and crossed to stare out of the window. 

There were nights when she hated being stuck in school. There were times when she wanted nothing more than to climb on her broomstick and fly off into the night. She knew the reality of the situation though. Assuming she did manage to negotiate the school walls without crashing into them there was still Miss Hardbroom to get past. Somehow Mildred just knew that she'd turn up at the critical moment; it was something that she always seemed to do.

She placed both her hands on the windowsill and leant out of the window, looking down at the courtyard below. Haldane's white van was parked in the courtyard and two of Haldane's team were standing next to it. There was a flare of light as one of them lit up a cigarette.

"I don't like the look of them." She told the occupants of her room. Tabby yawned widely and returned his attention to licking his paws, whilst the bats twitched their wings but otherwise remained motionless.

"Fat lot of good you lot are." She muttered and turned her attention back to the goings on outside. "Maybe I should try and find out what they are up to?" She looked back over her shoulder to see if there was going to be more of a response to this suggestion but it was met with equal disinterest.

Mildred cast her eyes over the goings on in the courtyard for a few more moments before making a decision. She moved away from the window and headed towards the door.

"If HB comes round…" Mildred paused and tried to come up with a decent excuse. "Just tell her that you haven't seen me." She settled with before exiting the room.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Mildred nearly jumped out of her skin as she heard a voice boom out from behind her. She was running through a list of possible excuses when her brain finally worked out that the voice she had heard was not that of Miss Hardbroom.

"Maud!" She spun on her heel and glowered at her friend. "You nearly scared me half to death. What are you doing out here?"

Maud shrugged her shoulders.

"I had a feeling that you wouldn't stay in your room and study. I figured that you'd need me to keep you out of trouble."

"I was planning to try and find out what Haldane and his people are really bringing into the school."

Maud tilted her head to one side and regarded her friend for a few moments.

"You really are worried about what's going on aren't you?"

Mildred nodded.

"There's something not right about all this. I can't put my finger on it but I overheard Haldane on the phone earlier on and I didn't like the sound of what he was saying."

"And what do you want to do about it?"

"Take a look around, see what we can find out." Mildred explained. "I know that the others all think that Haldane's wonderful and there's no way that they'll listen to anything I say."

"Yeah but I also think that Haldane's wonderful." Maud reminded her friend.

"True… but you are going to help me aren't you?"

Maud nodded.

"You need someone to make sure that you don't end up in too much trouble. I don't think that you're right about Haldane and if coming with you is the only way to prove that you are wrong then that's what I'll do."

* * *

Enid groaned as she struggled with the box that Haldane had asked her to carry. It had seemed like a great idea to help Haldane but now she was beginning to regret her earlier enthusiasm. She'd forgotten just how much she hated lugging stuff around. 

"I don't see why we can't use magic to help us." She grumbled to Ruby as she finally reached her destination and set the box down on the floor.

Ruby shot her a wry smile.

"I don't think Haldane would appreciate experiencing the Foster's effect first hand."

"I don't see how helping Haldane could be seen as a selfish act." Enid argued but she knew that Ruby would come up with something to justify her stance.

"Lightening the load would only benefit you." Ruby told her as she too placed the box she had been carrying on the floor. "I wonder what all this stuff is?" She went to lift the lid on the box but Enid's shout made her pull up short. "I wasn't going to look." She pleaded but Enid wasn't convinced.

"You know that Haldane told us that we weren't to look." She chided her friend. "He wants us all to see this at the same time."

Ruby looked suitably guilty.

"I can't help it if I'm curious." She told Enid. "I'm sure that one little peek wouldn't hurt." She looked questioningly at her friend to see if her resolve was weakening or not. She thought that she caught a hint of temptation on Enid's face. "Just a quick peek." She assured her.

Enid chewed her lips for a moment as she struggled with her conscience.

"Well maybe a small look wouldn't hurt." She finally admitted. Ruby beamed at her friend and waited for her to reach her side. There were two snap catches on the lid of the box and she reached out for the first one, finding to her surprise that her hands were shaking slightly. After clenching her fists she closed her eyes and settled her nerves.

"Come on." Enid urged her; now keen to see what was contained within the container.

Ruby opened her eyes again and swiftly opened both of the catches. Placing both hands on the lid, she slowly lifted the top of the box.

"What the…" She exclaimed as she caught sight of the gleaming piece of machinery that lay within.

"Doesn't look much like a prop to me." Enid confessed.

"That's because it isn't."

Enid and Ruby jumped in shock as they heard Haldane's voice behind them. They turned to apologise but no words came from their mouths.

"You really shouldn't have done that." He told them. "You've spoiled the surprise now."

Enid risked a glance at Ruby. There was something in Haldane's tone that she found un-nerving. Up until this moment she had never seen Haldane be anything other than charming, now however he came across as downright menacing.

"Would it help if we said we were sorry?" Ruby stammered.

Haldane shook his head slowly.

"Well this gives me a bit of a problem." He confessed to them. "I can't very well let you go back to the others and start blabbing about what you've seen."

"But we don't know what it is that we've seen." Enid explained

Haldane smiled.

"I'm sorry but I can't take the chance that someone will work out what I'm doing." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small canister.

Ruby frantically tried to think of some spell to cast in Haldane's direction but she ran out of time. There was a low hissing sound and the world around her blurred and fell unnaturally silent.


	10. Chapter 10

_Once again huge thanks for the reviews. I really do appreciate them. If things go according to plan this weekend I should have the next part up on Sunday or Monday at the latest. Meanwhile... back to Mildred and co..._

* * *

"I don't think we should be doing this." Maud warned Mildred for the umpteenth time as they made their way along the corridors towards the dungeons.

"It's not spying on anyone." Mildred tried to reassure her friend again. "This is our school and we're allowed to go where we like."

"That's not strictly true." Maud pointed out, thinking immediately of a long list of places that were designated as off limits. She then thought of the number of times that one of Mildred's schemes had resulted in her entering those forbidden areas and getting herself in trouble.

"Sshh." Mildred stopped short and grabbed hold of her friend's arm. "There's someone coming."

Maud strained her ears and made out the sound of approaching footsteps. She glanced around, looking for somewhere to hide.

"Over here." She hissed at her friend and pulled her into the deep shadows of an archway. Both girls pressed their backs up against the walls and held their breath. Moments later Miss Hardbroom stalked past them carrying a bag.

"Where is she going?" Mildred hissed in Maud's ear.

"I don't know." Maud confessed.

"Should we follow her?"

Maud shook her head.

"Just how long do you think it would take for her to spot us?"

Mildred considered the question for a moment before conceding that Maud had a point. They would probably only last a couple of minutes before HB realised that they were there.

Mildred's attention was diverted as she heard the sound of a door being slammed.

"What is she doing?"

Maud shrugged her shoulders.

"Perhaps she just wants a word with Haldane."

Mildred shook her head.

"I can't imagine that she'd waste her time talking to him."

There was the sound of the door opening again and the two girls pressed themselves against the wall. Miss Hardbroom stalked past them once more. This time the bag she was carrying was definitely heavier than it had been earlier and she was wearing her cloak.

"She can't be leaving the school surely?" Maud's voice was full of disbelief.

"Maybe she's got a date?" Mildred suggested with a laugh.

Maud slapped her on the arm.

"Don't be daft." She scolded her friend and Mildred smiled at her apologetically.

"Don't know what I was thinking." She confessed and the two friends smiled at each other as they both tried to imagine Miss Hardbroom going out on a date with anyone.

"HB never leaves the school in the evening." Maud shook her head. "I wonder what she's up to and what has she got in that bag?"

"Perhaps she sells the stuff that she makes disappear." Mildred suggested. She looked at the confused expression on her friend's face. "All the stereos and the consoles, they have to end up somewhere." She explained. "We never see any of it again. Perhaps she zaps it all to a room down here and then once a month sells it on Ebay."

Maud shook her head, a broad smile on her face.

"I somehow doubt that HB would approve of Ebay, let alone sell anything on it."

"But our stuff has to end up somewhere." Mildred protested.

"You've been worrying about this for sometime haven't you?" Maud questioned and Mildred nodded.

"Things don't just disappear. That's what my mum always says and if the sayings true then all our stuff has to end up somewhere."

"Let's just get on with it." Maud urged her friend. Mildred nodded in agreement and led the way down the corridor again.

"Sshh." Mildred stopped short and Maud walked into the back of her.

"What is it now?" Maud was beginning to get a little impatient with her friend.

"I heard something." Mildred told her.

Maud stared into the darkness and tried to work out what it was that Mildred had heard.

"There's nothing there." She finally said.

"But I heard something." Mildred insisted. "There was a voice. I'm sure there was."

Maud shook her head.

"You're just hearing things now."

"I'm not." Mildred insisted. "There was something."

"But you can't hear it now can you?"

Reluctantly Mildred shook her head

"No."

"Then let's get out of here." Maud pleaded. She hadn't really wanted to come down to the dungeons in the first place and the longer they stayed the more nervous she felt.

Mildred reluctantly agreed to Maud's request and the two friends turned and prepared to leave.

"Help!" A voice echoed down the dark corridor and Mildred grabbed hold of Maud's arm.

"You heard it that time, didn't you?"

Maud pulled Mildred's arm away from hers.

"There was something." She conceded.

"It was more than something." Mildred insisted. "That was Ruby."

"They're probably just rehearsing." Maud's voice was uncertain.

"Ruby sounded like she meant it." Mildred protested.

"Maybe she's just a better actor than we give her credit for."

"Maud!" Mildred began to lose her patience. "You know as well as I do that there's something going on here."

"What if there isn't?" Maud needed to make sure that Mildred understood her predicament. "What if it is just another rehearsal? Can you imagine the trouble we'd end up in if this is nothing at all?"

"But what if it is something?"

Maud was in two minds about what to do. She had been reluctant to come down to the dungeons in the first place and now she was worried that Mildred's overactive imagination was starting to affect her. They had no real proof that Haldane was up to anything and she could just imagine the reaction they'd get from the other girls if they did anything to upset Haldane. Accusing him of stealing someone's magic wasn't likely to endear them to him and if it was Miss Hardbroom who made the accusation then she was fairly sure that Haldane would just walk.

"You've got to be really certain that there is something going on." She warned her friend and Mildred shot her a determined look in return.

"There is something going on. I just know there is." She counted off the points on her fingers. "Since Haldane's arrival he's done nothing but talk to us about magic… " She paused as a thought struck her. "And what about when he was asking us all those questions about who we thought the most powerful was? I bet he was just sizing up the competition." Maud still looked less than convinced so Mildred ploughed on. "Let's not forget that HB doesn't trust him."

"HB doesn't trust anyone." Maud reminded her friend and Mildred had to grudging admit that that was probably true.

"But I know he's up to something." She looked imploringly at her friend. "Just five more minutes. I want to know for certain that Ruby's ok. Ok?"

Maud took a deep breath.

"Ok." She finally agreed. "But if we don't come up with something within five minutes then I'm heading back upstairs."

"Oh thanks Maud. I knew I could…" Mildred broke off her sentence as Maud pulled at her arm and dragged her into the shadows. "What are you doing?" She hissed at her friend.

"There's someone coming." Maud replied and Mildred rolled her eyes.

"Don't be daft." She told her friend. "No-one ever comes down here. I can't see that it's going to become the busiest place in the castle in one night."

Maud shushed her friend and indicated that she should listen out. Mildred decided to humour her friend and was surprised after a moment or two to make out the sound of people approaching. The amount of noise indicated that it was more than one person this time. Moments later she heard the distinguished tones of Haldane as he conversed with the person he was walking with.

"Everything is set for tomorrow. I trust that you have attended to your tasks?"

"Yes Haldane." A woman's voice dutifully replied. "Everything is as you requested."

"That's excellent news Francesca. This time tomorrow the witches in this school won't know what's hit them."

Hidden in the shadows, Maud and Mildred exchanged a look. Francesca was one of Haldane's team, Maud was certain of that. She strained her ears to try and hear what else they were saying.

"Can you be sure that it will all work?" Francesca asked nervously.

"What?" There was a trace of anger in Haldane's voice.

"These are different witches to the ones we met before. Can you be sure that the stuff will work on them in the same way?"

Haldane laughed softly.

"Trust me Francesca, everything will go to plan. I've taken the liberty of testing out the formula on a few of the pupils. It's working perfectly."

"What about the staff? Surely they'll pose more of a threat than the pupils?"

Haldane smiled.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head about that. It's all in hand."

"But what if they smell a rat?"

Haldane sighed heavily.

"Your lack of faith is a little wearing Francesca."

Francesca shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"So why do we need to delay?"

"We need to delay because I said that the curtain would rise on the play tomorrow night." Haldane told her firmly. "And I am nothing if not a man of my words."

"Did you hear all that?" Mildred breathed softly as soon as she was sure that Haldane and Francesca were out of her hearing.

"Of course I heard it." Maud told her friend crossly. "I was standing next to you."

"We have to do something." Mildred insisted.

"What do you suggest? If Haldane has the ability to knock out Miss Cackle and Miss Bat then I don't know what you expect us to do against him."

Mildred pulled a face as she realised that Maud had a point.

"We should report everything to Miss Cackle."

Maud shook her head.

"You heard Haldane. He says that he has everything in hand. What if that means that he's already got them under his control? What if that means that we get ourselves caught if we go to see Miss Cackle?"

"We'll have to find HB then." Mildred said decisively. "She's the only one that's not had anything to do with Haldane. I don't see that he'd have had the opportunity to do anything to her."

"But if she's left the school where would she go?"

Mildred thought about that for a few seconds until an idea struck her.

"I remember Fenny saying that HB goes into the woods to get away from us."

"This would be the same Fenny that told us in the first year that HB slept by hanging upside-down like a bat!"

"Yes but that was in the first year when we still thought that HB needed sleep like the rest of us."

Maud had to concede that her friend had a point.

"So do you have any idea exactly where in the woods she might be?"

Mildred pulled a face.

"They're not that big." She told her friend in the most reassuring tone she could manage. "But they are dark." Maud reminded her. "We're going to have to break out the torches."

"Let's do it." Mildred's voice was firm. "We have to do this for Cackles."

"For Cackles." Maud agreed, swallowing her own fear and following Mildred down the corridor.

* * *

Ruby finally gave up pounding on the door and rubbed at her bruised hand.

"I can't believe no-one heard me." She commented ruefully.

"Why should they?" Enid was sitting on the floor with her knees pulled up to her chest. "There's no-one stupid enough to come down here but us."

"Jadu must be out there somewhere." Ruby reminded her but Enid shrugged her shoulders.

"Doesn't guarantee that she'll hear us."

"But we have to try."

"Do we?"

Ruby sighed impatiently as she heard Enid's defeatist tone.

"We can't give up now." She tried to convince her friend. Enid was about to reply when Ruby indicated that she should remain quiet. Ruby pressed her ear against the door and listened intently.

"There's someone out there." She finally whispered. "I can hear footsteps on the stone flags."

She stood away from the door as the footsteps drew closer.

"When the door opens we have to do something." She tried to motivate Enid but her friend shook her head.

"I can't see that there's anything we can do." Enid looked down at her hands. "We have nothing to fight with."

"We don't know that we've lost our magic." Ruby tried to reassure her friend but there was no conviction in her voice.

"Can you do anything then?" There was a strained tone in Enid's voice. "Can you even remember how to do the simplest of things?" She slammed a hand against one of the walls. "What has he done to us?"

"We don't know that he has done anything to us." Ruby countered. "We don't know that he's responsible for this."

"Hello!" Enid questioned her friend. "Where were you when he sprayed us with that… stuff? It has to be him." She argued. "It has to be. This has to be what happened to Fenny as well."

There was the sound of a bolt being drawn back and moments later a small hatch in the door was opened. Haldane's face appeared in the opening.

"Step away from the door ladies." He advised them. When Ruby showed no sign of moving he sighed heavily. "Do I have to harm one of your little friends to make you do as I ask?"

Reluctantly Ruby stepped away from the door and joined Enid against the far wall. She could hear the sound of bolts being drawn back and moments later the door creaked open on rusty hinges.

Haldane was framed in the doorway momentarily before he stepped aside. He beckoned two others in and they placed the burdens they were carrying down on the ground before leaving again.

Haldane stepped back into the doorway and nodded towards the girls before pulling the door shut and returning the room to a semi-dark state.

Ruby was first to her feet and she made her way over to the new arrivals. Kneeling down she managed to make out the girls' identity.

"Ethel…Drusilla." She gasped.

"Do you suppose Haldane's done something to them as well?" Enid's voice reached her from the other side of the room.

Ruby shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess they were knocked out the same way that we were. There's every reason to assume that the same thing has happened to them." Ruby thought about it for a second before adding. "You don't suppose that he's planning to take out the whole school, do you?"

A look passed between the two girls.

"We have to get out of here and warn them." Ruby insisted. Enid's shoulders sagged dejectedly.

"Unless Ethel or Drusilla thought to bring a skeleton key with them, I can't see how we're going to get out of here."

* * *

Maud slowed to a halt and gasped.

"Stitch." She complained and gasped for air.

"We've got to keep going." Mildred reminded her impatiently. "We've got to find HB."

"I know." Maud reassured her. "But can we even be sure that HB is out here?"

The thought wasn't one that Mildred appreciated.

"She has to be out here. There's nowhere else she can be."

"Unless Haldane already has her."

Mildred shook her head.

"She's out here somewhere I know she is." She looked around her and spotted a small copse ahead. "Let's try up there."

Maud groaned but still forced her body into a run.

As Mildred neared the copse she could make out the flickering shadows cast by a fire.

"She's got to be here." She managed to puff. "There's a fire."

Pushing through the branches Mildred entered the copse, closely followed by Maud. There was indeed a small fire burning in the centre of the clearing but as Mildred scanned the area ahead, she couldn't make out her potions teacher.

"There's no-one here." Maud's tone was full of disappointment. "Where else would she be?"

"Mildred Hubble, Maud Moonshine what on earth do you think you are doing here?" Constance's voice could have cut glass. Despite the urgency of the situation, Mildred's jaw dropped open. She looked up and saw that Miss Hardbroom was floating in midair. A book was floating in front of her and she was making it look as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Miss Hardbroom!"

"What have I done in this world to be constantly hounded by the pair of you?" She sighed heavily and with a flick of the wrist closed the book and gently lowered herself back down to the ground. "What is it that is so earth-shatteringly important that you feel the need to break school rules and come out here?"

"It's Haldane and his players…" Maud began but Miss Hardbroom cut her off.

"I don't want to hear one more word about Mr Harrington and his group of socially inept misfits. Contrary to popular belief, the entire world does not dance to the beat of Mr Harrington's drum."

"But Miss Hardbroom…"

She waved a hand in their direction and both girls found that they were unable to speak. Maud looked desperately at Mildred, trying to think of a way to make Miss Hardbroom understand the seriousness of the situation. Mildred looked wildly around as if searching for inspiration. After a few moments she grabbed hold of Maud's arms. Maud could feel her friend pulling at her arms. She didn't have a clue what Mille was up to. Mildred continued to pull her towards the ground. Maud finally shook herself free. She watched as her friend raised her arms and waggled her fingers at her. She suddenly realised what she was getting at. As Mildred continued to waggle her fingers, she fell to her knees and clasped her hands together pleadingly.

Miss Hardbroom frowned at the mime act that was being played out in front of her. If there was one thing she couldn't stand it was being interrupted during the few precious moments that she allocated to herself. It became abundantly clear though that there was something going on that was more important than self-imposed exile from the school.

"I know I'm going to regret this." She told herself and raised her left hand, two fingers extended as always. She released the pair from the spell and crossed her arms, waiting to hear what they had to say.

"It's Haldane Miss Hardbroom, we think he's the one behind Fenella Feverfew's loss of power."

"And what concrete piece of irrefutable evidence do you base this accusation on?" Constance narrowed her eyes. "I take it that there is some evidence?"

Mildred shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"We heard Ruby calling for help."

"And what part is she playing in the upcoming theatrical extravaganza?"

Mildred shrugged her shoulders.

"They're not allowed to tell us." She confessed.

Miss Hardbroom raised an eyebrow.

"Isn't it just possible that they are rehearsing for this…extravaganza that everyone seems so excited about?"

"But she sounded really desperate." Mildred pleaded her hopes of getting Miss Hardbroom to help beginning to fade. "There really is something funny going on and Haldane said that he could take care of Miss Cackle and the others. I really think they need our help." She paused. "Only I don't think that most of them realise it yet. Please Miss Hardbroom; you've got to believe us."


	11. Chapter 11

_**Sorry that this has taken longer than planned to post. Life has been doing that 'busy' thing to me again. Hope that this will tide you guys over for a week until I can post again.**_

* * *

Constance looked from Mildred to Maud and back again. Over the last two years, Mildred Hubble had seemingly been at the centre of everything that had gone wrong in the academy. Constance cast her mind back over her years at Cackle's and couldn't think of a period of time where there had been so much trouble. She was fairly sure that if she added together all the pranks that every other year she had taught had perpetrated, it still couldn't hold a candle to the antics of Mildred Hubble and her cohorts.

However there was something in the expressions on the faces of the two pupils that determined her response.

"If this turns out to be nothing but a wild goose chase then the pair of you will be in detention for so many hours you will forget what free time actually is."

Her warning given she waved her hand and transported the three of them to Mildred's room.

"Blimey!" Mildred gasped as her room materialised around her. Tabby looked up from where he had been sleeping on Mildred's bed and purred as he spotted his owner. She shook her head in disbelief, realising that there were still things that HB could do that astounded her.

"Can you zero in on anywhere in the castle?" Mildred asked without thinking.

"What?"

"Nothing Miss." Mildred hastily assured her teacher but made a mental note to herself to be really careful what she said about HB. There really did seem to be a chance that she could be around any corner.

"So where exactly is Mr Harrington?"

"He's down in the dungeons." Mildred supplied the information. "He's using some of the rooms down there."

"I'm well aware that he was granted access to some of the rooms." Miss Hardbroom replied frostily. "I'm also well aware that none of the pupils were granted access. Pray tell what were you doing down there in the first place?"

Mildred looked suitably guilty.

"I'm sorry Miss Hardbroom but I just knew that Haldane was up to something. I had to check it out."

"And you Maud Moonshine? Did you believe Mildred's tale of intrigue and skulduggery or was it simply blind loyalty that drove you to break school rules?"

Maud shrugged her shoulders nervously.

"Mildred seemed very certain that something was wrong." She finally replied.

"Do you think you could show me to the area in question?"

Mildred nodded.

"You'll have to be quiet though Miss."

Miss Hardbroom sighed heavily.

"I think I can manage that Mildred." She told her pupil wearily as she opened the door to the room.

She stepped out into the corridor and took a few paces along the draughty hallway before stopping.

"Where is everyone?"

"Miss?" Mildred stuck her head around the door.

"It's past curfew and I can tell you that these rooms are empty."

Mildred opened her mouth to ask just how her teacher could tell this but then decided that she really didn't want to know.

"Maybe Haldane has stepped up his plan." She hissed under her breath. "Maybe he decided that it just wasn't worth waiting for the play."

"Maybe." Miss Hardbroom weighed up the options. "But what made him change his plans?"

* * *

"This is all your fault." Ethel snapped at Enid.

It had only taken the girls a short while to recover from the effects of Haldane's spray but both Ethel and Drusilla were quick to lay the blame for their predicament at Enid and Ruby's door.

"I don't know how you can blame us." Ruby snapped back before Enid had a chance to draw breath. "We were here before you."

"Well you could have done something to stop him or to warn us." Drusilla argued.

"If the two of you couldn't stop him what makes you think that the two of us stood a better chance?" Ruby tried to reason with them.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up." Enid yelled at the three bickering girls. "I really don't think that sniping at each other is going to help."

"So what do you suggest that we do then Miss Smarty Pants?" Ethel sneered. "Got any bright plans forming in that vacant space between your ears that you laughingly call a brain?"

"Shut up." Enid snapped in reply.

"Well that's constructive I must say!" Ethel moved to stand over the other girl and glared down at her. "You think you're the queen of quick thinking so why don't you come up with a way to get us out of here?"

"We don't have any magic." Enid shouted into her face. "Don't you understand what has happened? We are no longer witches. Everything we ever learnt about magic has gone. I really am not in the mood for your petty bullying right now!"

Ethel was at a complete loss for words, she had been trying hard not to think about what had happened to her and Enid's words really hit the mark. She felt the tears spring to her eyes at the thought that she might not be able to practice the craft again.

"We're all in this together." Ruby tried to act the peacemaker but the bad-tempered expressions on the faces of the other girls in the room told her that it was going to be a long time before any peace was likely to be reached.

* * *

"We're getting close to the area now." Mildred whispered, still finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that she was currently sneaking through the corridors of the school with her potions teacher. It wasn't something that she'd ever envisaged doing. There were most definitely people you snuck down corridors with and people that you didn't. Mildred had always assumed that Miss Hardbroom fell into the latter category; she came across as just too strict and stern to ever sneak anywhere. She was someone that always made an impression wherever she went and the thought of her trying not to be noticed wasn't something that Mildred could quite get her head around. She had assumed that once they'd told her what was going on, HB would have dashed off and confronted Haldane. There was a part of Mildred that wondered why she hadn't. HB wasn't discounting their fears regarding Haldane though as she was certainly on the alert. Mildred had noticed that HB's spell-casting fingers were already extended and that did go some way towards giving her confidence a boost. If HB was taking their fears seriously then Mildred was certain that she'd be able to deal with whatever Haldane threw at them.

"I know we're close to the area." Miss Hardbroom's voice betrayed more than a little impatience. "You may find this surprising Mildred Hubble, but I did actually take the trouble to find out exactly what parts of the school Mr Harrington was being given access to."

"Sorry Miss." Mildred began to apologise but a silencing motion from Miss Hardbroom caused her to tail off. "What is it Miss?" She finally whispered.

Constance lowered her hand and turned to face the two girls in front of her.

"Maud Moonshine, I want you to head down the passageway on the left. Halfway down it you will find a heavy wooden door to your right. That is where I believe you will find your friends."

"What?" Maud was open-mouthed at Miss Hardbroom's announcement, wondering how her teacher could possibly know that. As she waited for a response she realised that she could hear a faint knocking and crying noise at the very edge of her hearing.

"Go to them." Constance instructed her. "See if you can get them out and find out exactly what has been going on."

"What should I do?" Mildred asked.

Constance looked at her as though trying to decide whether or not she could rely on her.

"You're with me." She said finally. "I rather think it's safer to have you at my side where I can keep an eye on you."

Constance starred down the passageway. She was fairly certain that Haldane and his team would be gathered in the room at the end. That was the area that had been set aside as a rehearsal area and as such it was the perfect place for the group to meet.

She watched as Maud moved off, following the instructions she had been given and then turned her attention to Mildred.

"We need to find out what they are up to." She told the girl sternly. "We are not going to burst in on them, we are not going to try and make out that we are the invading cavalry and we are not going to turn this into some huge production number. Do I make myself clear?"

Mildred nodded nervously in response.

Constance regarded her for a moment, just to decide for herself whether or not she believed her pupil's quiet nod. If there was one thing Mildred Hubble could be relied upon to do it was make a noise and this was one occasion where noise was to be avoided.

After deciding that perhaps Mildred was going to manage to remain silent for a period of time she moved off down the corridor.

Mildred swallowed nervously and set off after her.

The passageway was poorly lit and it was easy for the pair of them to remain in the shadows. As they neared the room at the end Miss Hardbroom slowed to a halt and motioned for Mildred to stay behind her. Mildred could make out voices but she couldn't work out what they were saying. Curiosity got the better of her after a few moments and she moved to stand next to Miss Hardbroom, trying to get a look at what Haldane and his gang were up to. She could see that the small group were gathered in the middle of the room and they all seemed to be deep in discussion.

"What are they doing?" She hissed.

"I can't tell from here." Constance admitted.

"I could use an eavesdropping spell and find out what they're up to."

"I'm sure you could Mildred." Miss Hardbroom told her dryly. "And I'm sure it would be a spectacular success but perhaps for a moment you will entertain the notion that they have remembered that we are witches and have put some kind of magic sensing spell in operation." She looked down at Mildred's downcast face. "It's what I'd do."

"I hadn't thought about that."

"Well that Mildred Hubble is obvious. It seems prudent at the moment to assume that they have a degree of magic ability and to take things carefully, don't you think?"

"Yes Miss."

"Seeing as we are in agreement, I recommend that you exercise your ears more and your mouth less, that way we may actually be able to discover what they are up to."

"Yes Miss Hardbroom."

* * *

"I think we're ready." Haldane told the small group that was gathered round him. He tapped the machine that sat at his side. "By the end of the day this little baby should hold all of the magic in Cackle's Academy."

"You think it'll all fit?" Franklin asked as he stared at the silver box shaped object.

Haldane glared up at the broad-shouldered man.

"Magic isn't a physical thing Franklin; you can't see it, it doesn't take up space the way that a room full of cats would."

"So how do you keep it all in there?" The question had been at the back of Franklin's mind since Haldane had first taken their little group on the road and now he couldn't keep it back any longer.

Haldane scowled at Franklin.

"How many times do I have to go through this?" He shook his head. "Actually, no, I'm not going into this again, not now." He placed a hand on his subordinate's arm. "Just trust me when I say that this is going to work. You understand what I did to the witches at Pentangles Academy?"

Franklin nodded his head slowly for a few seconds.

"No." He finally admitted.

Haldane sighed heavily.

"When we arrived there how many of the witches could cast a spell or two?"

"All of them."

"Good. That's a promising start. Now think about this second question carefully. When we left there how many witches had any magic at all?"

Franklin pulled a face.

"None of them?"

"Exactly." Haldane tapped the machine. "All their magical ability is locked up in here. I can harness it and use it any way that I please. That's all you need to understand."

Franklin stared at the machine for a few seconds.

"So what does it smell like?"

"What!" Haldane shook his head. "Magic doesn't smell of anything Franklin. It's an essence, an aura…" He looked at the expression on Franklin's face. "It's something that I'm never going to be able to put into words that you'll understand."

Haldane walked away from Franklin before he could do anything that might result in bruised knuckles. Another of his colleagues followed him. He was thankful that it was Murphy. Of all the team, Murphy was undoubtedly the brightest. There were times however when he wondered just how strong Murphy's loyalties really were.

"Do you want to deal with the witches in the dungeons now?" Murphy asked, anxious to get Haldane's thoughts away from Franklin. There were times when he wondered why they bothered keeping Franklin around and then he looked at the stature of the man and realised that his sheer size and strength made him an invaluable member of the team. Whilst it was true that physical strength wasn't always the best weapon against a spell-casting harridan it was more than useful when you needed to break down the heavy wooden doors that they seemed insistent on living behind.

"I think it would be better if we were to deal with them sooner rather than later." He paced back and forth. "Are you sure that no-one's missed them?"

Murphy shook his head.

"Everyone knows that certain members of the cast were helping out this evening. They'll just assume that rehearsals are over-running."

"You're probably right." Haldane mused. "We'll deal with the ones we've got first, make sure that the stuff really is working and worry about the others later."

* * *

"What have they done to the pupils at Pentangles?" Mildred questioned fearfully.

"I don't know." Constance shook her head. "I've not heard of anything like this happening before."

There was silence for a few moments until Mildred spoke up again.

"I'm scared." She confessed quietly.

Constance looked back and saw the fear that was written across Mildred's face.

"Go and help Maud get the girls out of the dungeons." She whispered.

"What if they come this way?"

"Then I'll hold them off."

"But you heard Haldane. He knows how to use magic."

"And are you implying that I don't?" There was a hint of humour in Constance's voice.

"No Miss." Mildred hastily apologised. "It's just that if he's drained the magic from Pentangles Academy then he must be pretty powerful."

The silence in the passageway was shattered by a piercing klaxon.

"Maud must have tripped some kind of alarm." Constance noted. She pushed Mildred gently in the back. "Go and help her. Get the girls out of here"

"But…"

"Mildred!"

"Miss." Mildred hesitated before doing as she was told.

Constance watched her go and then turned as she head the thundering sound of running footsteps. She cricked her neck and shook out her hands before drawing her strength together and preparing for what was to come.

"You!" Haldane slowed to a halt as he rounded the corner and caught sight of Constance Hardbroom. His voice was a mixture of surprise and pleasure. "I was hoping to avoid a confrontation this early."

Constance tilted her head to one side.

"I'd like to say that I'm sorry to disappoint you but I never was one for lying."

Haldane turned to look at the machine that still sat idle in the centre of the room. He was now bitterly regretting his decision not to get the thing up and running. If there was one witch in the school that he needed back up against, it was most probably this one.

Still it wasn't as though it would take long to get the machine sorted. He motioned towards Franklin and Francesca and they quickly headed towards it. Haldane turned back to face her.

"You can't take us all on at once you know."

Constance arched an eyebrow.

"Can't I?"

Haldane clicked his fingers and was relieved when Murphy responded and threw the right bit of kit at him.

"Have you seen one of these before?" He asked as he began to check the settings on it. He risked a quick glance at her and then shook his head. "What am I saying? Of course you haven't. A few of your pupils have seen a more basic version but I think you deserve the upgrade."

Constance's eyes had been flitting around the room, sizing up the strength of the opposition. She'd run through and discounted a number of spells in seconds. If this team did have the strength to take out the whole of Pentangles then she knew she'd have to be careful what she tried against them. Magic had a nasty way of doing the unexpected when you didn't know exactly what you were casting it against.

Her eyes returned to Haldane as she realised that he'd fallen silent. The object that was levelled at her looked unmistakably like a gun. There was magic in the air that much she could sense. What she couldn't tell was who, if anyone, had control of it. One thing was certain; she couldn't afford to let anyone in the school be affected by this group.

As she saw Haldane's finger squeeze against the trigger she shook her hands and drew her strength together. The only thing to do until the school was clear was hold them back.

As a beam emerged from the end of the gun, she drew her hands apart and erected a barrier that she hoped would be strong enough to contain the magic that was present within the room.

* * *

"What's going on?" Maud yelled as she saw her friend sprinting down the corridor towards her.

"Haldane knows more about magic than we realised. He's got some sort of magic draining thing and he's trying to head this way."

"What's stopping him?" Maud was fighting with the lock on the door and wanted some indication on how much longer she might have.

"At the moment, HB." Mildred shouted as the sounds of clashing magic began to reach their ears.

"Come on door." Maud complained as she tried and failed to persuade the heavy door to budge.

"Why don't you just use an opening spell?" Mildred asked her friend as she watched her struggle with the lock.

"That was the first thing I tried." Maud replied in an exasperated tone. "The alarm you can hear is the only thing that I managed to do."

"Perhaps if we both try?" Mildred suggested but Maud shook her head.

"I get the feeling that it's been protected against magical interference in some way. Nothing seems to work on it." She gave the lock another thump.

Mildred glanced briefly back down the corridor as she heard the continuing exchanges of magic.

"Come on Maud." She muttered, more to herself than her friend.

"I've got it." Maud finally exclaimed and lifted the heavy latch. She pulled on the door but it still refused to budge. "What now?"

Mildred stared at the door for a moment before she spotted the problem.

"Bolts." She cried out and reached for the top of the door, where a thick rusted bolt was keeping the door closed. Maud spotted a second bolt at the bottom and dived towards it.

"Come on, come on." Mildred urged the bolt as it steadfastly refused to budge.

She heard the hammering on the other side of the door and knew that her friends were eager to be free from their confinement.

"I'm doing my best." She yelled at them and wrenched at the bolt again. With a squeal of metal upon metal, she finally felt it shift slightly.

Maud grabbed her bolt in both hands and, after seeing the effort that Mildred was putting in, pulled on the bolt with all her might. To her immense surprise, it slid smoothly back and she unceremoniously fell upon the hard stone floor.

Recovering from the surprise, she climbed gingerly to her feet and added her strength to the bolt that Mildred was working on.

Finally, with a loud squeal, it gave up its fight and the two girls managed to draw it back.

"Get everyone out." Mildred instructed her friend and turned back to stare down the corridor. She was beginning to get concerned. Surely HB should have finished dealing with Haldane and his men by now.

"I'm going to get HB." Mildred shouted in Maud's ear as the door opened and their classmates began to emerge.

"What?" Maud called after her friend but Mildred had already disappeared.

* * *

"Maud's opened the door and everyone's going to get out." Mildred yelled as she raced towards where Miss Hardbroom appeared to be maintaining a magical barrier. She could see Haldane on the other side of the barrier but she couldn't hear him. He was obviously shouting something though and was throwing magic at the barrier, trying to break through it.

"What are you doing here?" Constance demanded to know as she felt the pressure from the other side of the barrier increase.

"I came to tell you that we can get out of here." Mildred tried to explain. "Maud's freed the others from the dungeons."

Constance pulled a face as she listened to Mildred's take on the situation.

"And supposing I was to leave now." She told Mildred coldly. "Who do you suppose would keep Haldane and his band of happy homicidal maniacs penned in?"

"I hadn't thought of that." Mildred confessed.

"Well I don't have the time for you to stand and ponder the issue now." Constance snapped. "I need you to get back to the others and get them out of here."

"But…"

"Get out of here." Constance hissed. Mildred looked at the strain that was showing on her teachers face and was torn.

"But I can't just leave you here Miss Hardbroom." She protested. "There must be something I can do."

"For once in your life Mildred Hubble, do as you are told." Constance muttered through gritted teeth. "If Mr Harrington's boasts are true then that machine of his could spell the end for us all. Do you want that?"

"No Miss but…"

"Make sure all the girls are safe and get everyone out of the castle as quickly as you can."

"But you'll be…"

"Mildred Hubble I am not in the habit of repeating myself."

"No Miss."

"So do as I say and get out of here." Constance was forced to take a step back as the onslaught of magic became stronger. Mildred gasped as she noticed the flashes of purple and silver that were starting to find their way through the barrier that Miss Hardbroom had thrown up.

"He's starting to get through Miss."

"Yes I'm well aware of that Mildred." Constance took a breath and tried to increase the effort she was putting into maintaining the barrier. "Now I'll not tell you again."

"No Miss." Mildred turned on her heel and took a few paces away. "What are you going to do Miss?"

"300 lines Mildred. I must listen to everything my teachers tell me and not presume to know better." Constance snapped. "I want you to hand them to Miss Cackle at the first available opportunity, assuming that is that you choose to follow my instructions and get everybody out of here now."

"Miss." Reluctantly Mildred turned and began to move away.

"Run Mildred. I do not have all day to wait for you."

Mildred stopped and turned to face her teacher.

"There has to be…" She blinked and looked around in astonishment. "Something I can do." She finished as she tried to work out where she was.

"Come on Millie, where have you been?" Maud admonished her as she ushered Drusilla from the room. "I was beginning to think that they'd got you."

Mildred turned to look back down the corridor, trying to work out how she'd arrived back at the dungeons so quickly.

"Miss Hardbroom." She muttered beneath her breath as she realised what her teacher had just done.

"What about her?" Maud wanted to know; not realising the magic involved in Mildred's sudden arrival.

"HB's holding back Haldane and the others with some sort of barrier but I don't think it's going to hold for much longer. Haldane seems to be throwing some pretty serious magic around."

"Then we better get out of here." Maud grabbed hold of her friend's hand and began pulling her towards the exit. Mildred turned her head back the way she had come.

"What about HB?"

Maud pulled at her friend.

"She'll be ok. She'll just transport herself out of there. Come on Millie."

Reluctantly Mildred allowed herself to be pulled towards the exit. She only hoped that Maud was right.


	12. Chapter 12

_Well I was going to leave this until after the weekend but requests for me to speed up the posting has made a difference. So here is half of it now and I'll try and get the second half of it up by tomorrow night. I hope you enjoy._

* * *

Miss Cackle was sitting down to enjoy a well-earned cup of tea when she heard the sound of girls running in the corridors. She ignored it; secure in the knowledge that Constance would appear on the scene within seconds and sort everything out. She waited a few moments and was more than a little surprised to hear that the noise outside was showing no signs of dying down. Sighing heavily, she placed the teacup back on its saucer and the saucer back on the table. She looked at it longingly one final time before rising to her feet and crossing to the door.

"What on earth is going on?" She shouted as she opened the doors and saw the commotion that was taking place in the hallway outside. The place seemed to be full of girls and they were all rushing in the direction of the main doors.

"Girls, girls. Please!" She appealed to them to be silent but her voice was lost beneath the panic and the sound of rushing feet.

She stood and watched them for a second or two before she decided that it was time to intervene. She grabbed hold of the arm of the next girl that tried to charge past.

"What on earth do you think you are doing?" She demanded to know of Jadu.

Jadu tried to pull her arm free but Miss Cackle's grip was firm.

"It's Haldane Harrington Miss." Jadu explained breathlessly. "He's the one that's taken Fenny's magic."

"What?"

"Not just that he's done the same to Ruby and Enid as well." Jadu pulled away as she felt Miss Cackle's grip loosen on her arm. "Miss Hardbroom's told everyone to evacuate the school."

"Evacuate the school!" Miss Cackle was indignant. "I am never going to evacuate the school."

"Please Miss Cackle." Mildred appeared through a gap in the press of bodies. "Miss Hardbroom told me to make sure that everyone got out safely. Haldane's got some kind of magic stealing machine and he intends to strip the magic from everyone in the school."

"That's impossible."

"No it's not Miss." Mildred insisted. "Miss Hardbroom and I overheard him saying that he's already stolen all the magic from the pupils and staff at Pentangles."

Miss Cackle's eyes widened.

"All the magic?"

Mildred nodded.

"That's what he said."

"So what is Miss Hardbroom doing?"

"She's thrown up some barrier against him." Mildred tried to explain. "She told me to get everyone out of here."

"But…" Miss Cackle was at a loss for words.

"Miss Hardbroom was quite insistent Miss." Mildred told her. "I don't think the 1st years would be able to defend themselves against him."

Miss Cackle thought about the situation for a few moments.

"Miss Hardbroom's right Mildred. Let's get everyone out to somewhere where we can sit down and think about what we need to do." Miss Cackle left her study, pulling the door behind her, all thoughts of her much-needed cup of tea forgotten.

"Come on girls." Miss Drill urged as the students began to run past her. She wasn't really sure what was happening but she knew that it wasn't good. She liked to think that she'd just about come to terms with the things that went on in the academy but there were still times when she realised that she was totally out of her depth. This was most definitely one of those occasions. She spotted Miss Cackle as she scurried across the hallway.

"Do you know what's going on?" She called out to her head teacher. Miss Cackle slowed to a halt beside her.

"I'm not 100 percent convinced that I know what's going on." She confessed. "But Mildred Hubble is pretty determined that we should get out of here."

Imogen nodded.

"I think she's right. I've seen Enid, Ruby, Ethel and Drusilla. They've all lost their magic."

"Do you believe that Haldane is behind it?"

Miss Drill shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know but I don't think we should hang around here to find out."

"I think that perhaps you are right." Miss Cackle agreed as she checked around to make sure that the hallway behind her was empty. "Now are you sure that everyone is out?"

Imogen tried to recall the faces of all the girls that had charged past her but knew that there was no way that she could account for everyone. She reluctantly shook her head.

"I couldn't swear that they are all out."

Miss Cackle pulled a face.

"That's the problem with this place; too many dark corners to hide oneself in." She looked over her shoulder again. "I think we should at least get everyone we have here as far away as we can. Then we can regroup and think of a plan."

Miss Drill nodded.

"There's a clearing just beyond the school grounds, I'm sure that it's big enough to hold all of us."

"Right then, lets get out of here." Miss Cackle ushered her colleague through the main doors and was about to slam them behind her when she had a sudden thought. "Has anyone seen Miss Bat?"

Imogen nodded.

"I saw Jadu pushing her out of the door a little while ago."

"Good, good." Amelia stepped out into the courtyard and slammed the door shut. As the door shut with an echoing thud, she had to confess to an uneasy feeling at abandoning the school. When she'd taken on the place, she had sworn, not only to look after the girls who studied within the castle walls but also to protect the castle itself against any outside invasion. It was a declaration that owed more to the castle's history than its present status as a school but Amelia couldn't help wishing that there had been some warning about guarding against attacks from within the walls as well.

* * *

Mildred stood at Walker's gate and watched as the rest of the school disappeared into the distance. Maud stood at her side and kept casting her eyes nervously back at the closed gate.

"How long are we going to wait?" She asked, checking the door again to make sure that nothing was about to break through it.

"Until HB appears." Mildred told her firmly. "We can't just leave her in there."

"But what can we do?" Maud protested. She didn't want to come across as a coward but she honestly didn't know what they could do against Haldane if he was as powerful as Mildred made out.

Mildred shrugged her shoulders and turned to face her friend.

"We can't just leave Maud. We can't."

"What if HB just transports herself out of there? She'll be all safe and sound and we'll be standing in the firing line like a couple of idiots."

Mildred pulled a face. She knew that Maud had a valid point; there was no real reason to expect that HB would choose to leave the school by the gate but she couldn't shake the feeling that leaving would be akin to abandoning her.

"Just a few more minutes?" She pleaded.

"Five minutes." Maud told her firmly. "Five minutes and not a second more."

* * *

Miss Cackle climbed onto a rotten tree stump and cast her eyes over the mass of panicking girls in front of her. She tried to remember the face of every girl and wanted to make sure that they were all there. She scanned the crowd again. There were still two girls missing.

"Has anyone seen Mildred Hubble or Maud Moonshine?" She called out.

A hushed silence fell over the group.

"Maud was the one that let us out." Ruby piped up. "I'm sure she was just behind us when we left the school."

There were general murmurings of agreement from the other girls.

"So where are the pair of them now?" Miss Cackle wanted to know.

"Here miss." Enid pointed towards the entrance to the small clearing. Sure enough a bedraggled Mildred and Maud were making their way towards the rest of the party.

"What happened to you girls?" Miss Drill wanted to know as she rushed to their side.

"We hung back waiting for Miss Hardbroom." Mildred panted as she glanced around the group. "Is she here?"

"No dear." Miss Cackle told her worriedly as she too made her way over to join the girls. "Why did you need to wait for her?"

"Well she'd put up this barrier that was keeping Haldane and the others back. She said that she'd join us and we were..."

"I see." Miss Cackle stopped the explanation as quickly as she could.

"Ooohhh dear." Miss Bat waved her hands in panic. "I wonder what's become of Constance."

"Sshh." Miss Cackle tried to quieten Miss Bat down. The last thing she needed was panic amongst the students. She turned her attention towards the two girls. "Now think carefully Mildred. I need you to tell me exactly what Miss Hardbroom said to you."

Mildred shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"She told me to get out of the building, to not wait for her and to get the rest of you out." Mildred looked from Miss Cackle to Miss Drill, feeling guilty at having abandoned her teacher. "I wanted to wait and help but she told me to leave."

"Very well Mildred. You did exactly what you should have done. Did Miss Hardbroom say anything else?"

"She told me I had to write 300 lines." Mildred closed her eyes to remember the exact words that Miss Hardbroom had used. "I must listen to everything my teachers tell me and not presume to know better." She opened her eyes and looked sadly at Miss Cackle. "She's not going to be joining us, is she Miss Cackle?"

Amelia's face was downcast.

"No my dear. I don't think she is."

* * *

Haldane opened the heavy wooden door and stared into the blackness within. The light from the flickering torches in the corridor was not enough to illuminate the corners of the small dark room. If it hadn't have been for the dull purple glow from the bonds that bound Constance Hardbroom's wrists and from the one that encircled her neck, Haldane would have believed that the room was empty. It had taken a lot longer than he'd initially thought to break down the barrier that she'd thrown up. He'd been hoping to trap all the witches within the school and do things in his own time. He was more than a little annoyed that his plans had been thrown off kilter by the witch currently sitting in front of him. He doubted however that she had acted alone. Someone had to have set off the alarm and someone would've had to lead the others out of the school. One name kept coming to his mind; one name just wouldn't go away. Mildred Hubble. She was the only one who didn't seem to hang onto his every word the way the rest of the school had. He rubbed his hands together. When he had the current situation under control then he could go after the other witches and he'd settle the score with Mildred Hubble.

But before he could get to any of that there was the problem of Constance Hardbroom to deal with. He'd not wanted to put this particular part of the plan into operation this early and in this way but his hand had been forced and now he just had to get on with things.

He took a few paces into the room and halted, allowing his eyes time to grow accustomed to the low level of light.

He could just about make the room's occupant out as she sat slumped against the far wall. In places though her outline was lost as her black dress seemed to enable her to blend seamlessly in with the inky darkness.

He crossed the remainder of the room and knelt down next to the witch. She didn't react to his presence and so he reached out with a finger and gently tapped her right cheek.

Immediately she let out a small groan and her eyes squinted as she attempted to respond. He watched fascinated as her mouth opened and closed as she attempted to swallow, despite her parched throat. Haldane had to confess that he was always intrigued by the way that the human body attempted to cope after a period of unconsciousness.

Finally one of her eyes snapped open, it was followed quickly by the other and he was momentarily taken aback by the intensity of the glare that was directed towards him. With the amount of drugs that had been pumped into her system there was no way that she should have been able to regain control of her senses that quickly. He relaxed moments later though when her pupils dilated and all sense of focus appeared to be lost.

"Hey there Miss Hardbroom. Back in the land of the living I see." Haldane watched closely as she slowly and deliberately extended the forefinger and little finger of both hands.

"I wouldn't bother trying that if I were you." He warned. He fully expected to be ignored and smiled in satisfaction as the witch attempted to cast a spell to free herself.

There was a vivid purple flash from the bands and the magic was absorbed, but not before it had delivered a small shock to the wearer.

"The more times you or anyone else tries to use magic on them the stronger the shock will become. You'd be well advised to stop now."

Haldane watched as the unfocused eyes tried once again to seek him out.

"You're wondering why you can't think clearly aren't you?" He asked her conversationally. "It's probably not a concussion. It's more likely to be the drugs." He reached forward and placed a hand beneath her chin, tilting her head towards what little light there was. "We can't have you thinking clearly and attempting to transport yourself out of here now, can we?" He let his hand slip down and gently turned the band that was fixed around her neck. "I think these things are really very clever. Well they are my invention so I guess I'm allowed to be a little proud. I'm just not sure exactly how they're going to cope with your magic. You saw the machine I've been using?" He left a pause allowing her time to respond, although he really didn't expect her to say anything. "Well I thought I'd try something a little different with you. Don't get any ideas about this being preferential treatment. I'd have used this on the head at Pentangles if I'd managed to iron the bugs out in time."

He moved his hand away from the band and straightened up. He regarded her for a second and then sat down next to her.

"I have a little proposition for you." He began smoothly. He turned his head and looked at her profile. Her head was raised and he knew that she was paying attention. "You have something that I want but I am prepared to do a little deal with you." He drew his knees up and rested his elbows on them. "You have a lot of magic in that head of yours and one way or another I'm going to take it. It's up to you though exactly how much, if any, I leave behind. I want you to show me how to use the power properly. I want you to teach me what you know." He turned to regard her again, trying to see if there was any reaction but he was met with nothing but silence. "I know you can hear me." His patience was beginning to fray at the edges. He reached out and, grabbing hold of her chin turned her face towards him. "Do we have a deal? Teach me what you know and I let you keep some of your power. Refuse and I take it all… Every last drop. What do you care who wields the power?" His question was met with silence and he angrily released his hold on her, reaching out instead for the little finger on her left hand. "There are ways I can make you speak to me." He told her coldly. "Perhaps I should listen to my colleague Francesca. She isn't a fan of new technology; she thinks that the magical restraints are far too civilised. She has a much more direct way to prevent spell casting." He placed his hand below her finger and let his thumb run over the joints from knuckle to fingertip. "She'd much rather that I took care of things by simply snapping your fingers." He closed his hand tightly around her finger. "The choice is yours."

"Are you quite finished?" The words were slightly slurred and quieter than normal but there was no mistaking the tone.

"This isn't a game." Haldane warned her. "One way or another I'm going to command magic. It's up to you whether it's your magic I use or not."

He heard her let out a half laugh.

"Well I can tell you here and now that it most certainly won't be my magic."

"So you're not going to help me?"

"Ooh I think not."

Haldane shook his head.

"You really don't have a choice in the matter Constance. You don't mind if I call you Constance do you?" He didn't bother waiting for a reply but continued on, releasing his hold on her hand and running a finger around the purple band around her left wrist. "Trust me when I say that this will work. I will have your magic."

"You won't be able to use it." She warned him.

"We'll see about that."

When she made no attempt to reply, Haldane rose to his feet again.

"You will come round to my way of thinking one way or another." He called back over his shoulder as he headed for the door. "And I would tell you to sit quietly and conserve your strength but that would be impossible." Haldane turned and for a moment believed that he could feel the witch's eyes burning into him. He shrugged the feeling off. "The bonds you see, they don't just subdue your magic they drain it, every last drop of it. Right down to the dregs. Oh I've no doubt that it will take a lot longer to drain the magic from you than it did to drain it from Fenella Feverfew but I have all the time in the world." He pushed up the sleeve of his shirt, revealing a gold coloured amulet that was fitted snugly around his wrist. "This is where all your magic will end up Constance, whether you like it or not. I will have it. I will have it all. Sweet dreams." He slammed the door behind him, casting Constance Hardbroom into pitch-blackness once again.


	13. Chapter 13

_This is shorter than normal and was due to be part of the last chapter but I thought I'd split the huge chapter into two. Hopefuly this will tide you over until the beginning of next week._

_Hope you are still enjoying this, I know that I'm having a blast. Getting near the home straight now though. I think I'm gonna miss it when its gone._

_As always I appreciate the reviews you guys have given. It's good to know that people are out there reading this._

* * *

Miss Cackle sat down upon a tree stump and placed her head in her hands. She was trying to come to terms with what had just happened. Somehow Haldane Harrington had the ability to overcome the entire school. She shook her head, trying to understand how it would even be possible for him to do something like that. It wasn't as though they were defenceless; they had their magic for heavens sake. But it appeared that Haldane Harrington was responsible for that loss as well.

She lifted her head as a shadow fell over her.

"Sit down Imogen." She invited the gym teacher who was looking decidedly upset.

"I don't know what to say." Her voice was distraught and she seemed on the verge of tears. "I really had no idea…"

"Of course you didn't." Amelia immediately admonished her. "None of us had any idea what Haldane was really up to."

"But I was the one that suggested that he come to the school." Imogen protested.

"And I was the one that agreed with you." Miss Cackle countered. "If you want to play the blame game then I'm sure that I can match you every step of the way. Self recrimination is not going to help us now." She gently chastised her colleague. "What we need now is a plan of action; a means of attack; a clear and decisive plan. We need…"

"Constance Hardbroom." Imogen finished the sentence.

Miss Cackle sighed heavily.

"I rather think you're right," She reluctantly admitted.

Imogen pushed a hand through her hair.

"I can't believe I was so stupid." She told Miss Cackle. "I liked him. I really liked him. I trusted him. I was even beginning to think about how far away Serge was and how difficult it was to keep our relationship going." She shook her head. "Constance was right all along but did we listen to her?"

"Constance would have been against anyone we invited to the school." Amelia tried to reassure her colleague. "She'd have argued against Brad Pitt paying us a visit."

"Yeah but Brad Pitt wouldn't have taken the magic from 5 of our girls." She looked at Miss Cackle. "How do you know about Brad Pitt?"

Amelia smiled.

"I'm a witch not a hermit Imogen. There are bits and pieces from the outside world that reach my ears you know."

"And Brad Pitt was one of those bits and pieces?"

Amelia shrugged.

"I heard the girls talking… endlessly."

Silence fell between the pair for a few moments.

"What do you think happened to her?" Imogen finally asked. She raised her eyes and glanced at Miss Cackle but the head teacher was staring down at her hands. "Do you think she's ok?"

"I think that if she was ok then she'd be here with us now." Amelia finally admitted in a quiet voice.

"Miss Cackle?" Amelia raised her head as she heard the nervous tones of Mildred Hubble at her shoulder. She forced a smile to her face that she didn't believe in and turned to address the girl.

"What can I do for you Mildred?"

"I'm worried about Miss Hardbroom Miss." The words fell from her mouth. "I think we ought to do something."

Miss Cackle sighed.

"And what do you propose that we do Mildred?"

Mildred's face dropped as she heard the defeated tone in her headmistress's voice.

"I thought that you might have an idea miss."

Miss Cackle shook her head.

"I'm fresh out of ideas at the moment Mildred."

"But we must do something." Mildred insisted. The two teachers looked up at her, surprised by the urgency in her voice and Mildred immediately apologised. "I didn't mean to be rude." She tried to assure them. "It's just that Miss Hardbroom did everything she could to get us all out and I think that we should do the same for her."

Miss Cackle was moved to action.

"You're right Mildred. We are witches after all." She glanced at Miss Drill. "And whether we have magic or not we certainly have the guile and the cunning to do something about this. I want you and Maud to tell us everything you overheard Haldane and his gang say. I then want to talk to Ethel Hallow, Drusilla Paddock, Ruby Cherrytree and Enid Nightshade. We need to pool together everything we know about Haldane Harrington." She glanced around the clearing. "Where is Enid?"

* * *

Enid kicked out at a pebble that sat in her path. She watched as it tumbled end over end before plopping noisily into a small pond. She looked at the pond and was immediately struck by the thought that on any previous occasion she could have used magic to retrieve the pebble. Her eyes filled with unbidden tears and she angrily wiped them away. There was nothing to say that she couldn't get her magic back again, there was nothing to say that this was the end of the matter. There was always the chance that HB would appear and proclaim that everything was fine; that she had defeated Haldane or whoever he was and was ready to return their magic to them. Enid kicked out at another pebble. If that had been likely then HB would have joined them hours ago. Enid didn't want to face up to the very real possibility that she would never have her magic again.

"Are you ok?" She heard a familiar voice from the edge of the clearing and turned to see Fenella Feverfew standing there.

Enid shrugged her shoulders unsure of what to say. Fenella walked slowly into the clearing and leant up against one of the trees, wrapping her cloak tightly around herself before blowing on her hands.

"I hope that they come up with a plan soon." She said conversationally. "I don't much fancy spending the night out here."

"Hmm."

"It's not going to be that bad." She tried to reassure the younger girl.

"If you try and tell me that it's all going to be ok or that it will all look better in the morning then I'm going to…."

"What? Turn me into a frog" Fenny let the silence fall between them for a few seconds. "You and I both know that neither of us can do that."

"Just shut up." Enid yelled at the older girl. "Just shut up."

Silence fell between them again and Enid wiped angrily at the hot tears that stung her cheeks.

"You're not alone in this Enid." Fenella tried to remind her. "Don't try and handle this all by yourself. I'm not saying that it's going to be easy but it's not the end of your life." She smiled sadly. "Mind you if you'd asked me how I felt yesterday I don't think I'd have responded the same way. It just takes time to adjust that's all. It just takes time." She paused hoping for a response of some kind from Enid but when nothing was said she remained where she was leaning against the tree.

"If you want to talk then I'll be back in the clearing with the others." Fenella eventually broke the silence. "If you don't then I guess I understand that as well."

Fenella turned on her heel and took a couple of slow steps away.

"Don't go." The voice was quiet and hesitant. Fenella allowed herself a small smile and turned back to face Enid.

* * *

Haldane opened the door and was surprised to see that the witch was still sitting against the back wall. He took a few paces into the room and regarded her curiously. He knew that the initial cocktail of drugs she had been given would have worn off and that she would now be very aware of his presence.

"Ahh my lady Distain. You seem to be taking this all remarkably calmly."

"I've never seen the point in making a big song and dance out of everything." She replied quietly. "I leave that to others."

"Hmm." Haldane wasn't convinced. "In my short time here you didn't strike me as the type to give up just like that." He paused and thought about things for a second. "Mind you, you didn't strike me as the self-sacrificing type either. I guess we can't all judge people by appearances."

"Oh I wouldn't say that." Constance countered. "I had you pegged as an imbecile the moment I saw you and I'd say that assessment has turned out to be fairly accurate."

"Tut tut." Haldane chastised her. "That wasn't the wisest thing to do."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Maybe this."

Haldane opened up the palm of his hand and a purple ball of energy appeared.

"I wonder just how many times you've tried to use magic to free yourself from the bonds? I'm thinking it's more times than you try and make it look."

He drew back his hand and launched the ball of energy in her direction. He watched as the energy was absorbed by the bands. Moments later a crackling sound emanated from them and he was satisfied to hear her cry out in pain.

"Seems I was right." He walked towards where she sat shaking against the far wall and knelt down beside her. "To receive a shock of that magnitude I'd say you must have tried at least a dozen times to free yourself."

He waited for a few moments.

"No words of defiance, no protests that I don't know what I'm doing. What a shame."

He rose to his feet again and headed for the door.

"I don't know what you think you are going to gain from this but it's obvious that you understand nothing about magic." Constance told Haldane coldly, her words initially uttered with a halting voice. "It isn't something that you can just pick up and play with. It is a craft, an art that has to be practiced and respected. You can't just steal what you want and believe that you're in control. If you are not careful then it will control you."

"You've been drilling that into your students for so long you are really starting to believe it aren't you?" Haldane paced back and forth across the small room. He was really starting to feel the effects of the magic as it flowed into his system. Being near the source of the power seemingly heightened the effect.

"You don't understand the power you are meddling with."

Haldane laughed at the comment.

"I would have expected something a little more original from you Constance." He cupped his hand and after a few moments of concentration managed to conjure up a glowing ball of energy. "I have all the control that I need." He assured her.

"I very much doubt that" She told him coldly, "It may seem easy now but trust me if you misuse it, it will destroy you."

Haldane swept an arm in her direction.

"Don't give me that. I've seen you; I've seen what you can do."

"That may be so but I have dedicated the best part of my life to the craft. A witch is not just what I am it's **who** I am."

Haldane shook his head as he felt the power flowing into him from the witch in front of him.

"Just how much of you is there left?" He asked her quietly. Constance raised her head and glared tiredly at him.

"What are you babbling about now?"

He smiled at her response. There was no longer any real energy in the delivery but she was still trying to show her distain for him. He cupped his hands and summoned up another ball of energy.

"Is there any part of you that isn't imbued with magic? Any last vestige of who you were before you took up the craft?" He opened his hand and the energy ball fizzled and vanished. "Oh I don't disagree that your magic makes you powerful but what's the cost to you?" He moved to stand in front of her and tried to make eye contact with her. "I saw you going about your work up there." He motioned towards the ceiling. "Always using magic to get you from A to B, no longer needing to utter the words of a spell but simply pointing your two fingers and BAM there you go." He shook his head. "Doesn't it ever scare you?"

"Why should it?"

"When was the last time you had to do anything for yourself?" He asked. "What part of your life can you actually recall where magic didn't play any part?"

Constance remained silent. Her mind was fogged with the drugs that Haldane had pumped into her system. She tried to cast her mind back to a time before magic but found that there was nothing there.


	14. Chapter 14

**_I've just taken a look at the word count on this story and blimey it's huge. Sorry for rambling on so long but this story kind of got away from me. There are about three more parts after this and then…one way or another it will all be over._**

* * *

"So what does he know?" Amelia wanted to try to pool the information they knew about Haldane and his team. 

"Well he knows the layout of the school for a start." Imogen pointed out.

"Ahh but does he know it all?" Amelia questioned. "Does he really know it all?"

"I've seen him wondering around all over the place." Mildred piped up. "He certainly knows his way round the main part of the building."

"Ahh but I doubt that he knows every nook and cranny." Amelia tapped the side of her nose. "I've been in the castle for longer than any of you and I know more about the place than anyone. I think we'll find that there are a few passageways that Mr Harrington knows nothing about."

"So you think you can get us into the school." Imogen summarised. "But what can we do once we get in there? If Haldane has taken all the magic from the staff and students at Pentangles, what can we do against him?"

"Who says we have to fight magic with magic?" Enid's voice broke into the conversation. Fenella was at her shoulder with her arm around the younger girl. "There's more than one way to deal with a situation."

"What are you suggesting?" Amelia leant forward, eagerly listening to what the young girl had to say.

"I'm saying that we should try and distract him from what he's doing rather than launching an all out assault. I helped him carry his kit into the building. I know where he's stored the stuff. If we attack him with cunning rather than a magical bombardment I think we'll stand a better chance of success."

"I like your thinking." Miss Cackle encouraged her young pupil. "Perhaps we should distract Haldane with a show of strength and magic from the outside whilst a select few of us sneak in and deal with the real problem?"

"Exactly." Mildred warmed to the thought. "We've got to do something positive against him."

"I'll take a party of volunteers into the school." Miss Cackle announced and then turned to face Miss Drill. "That is, if you'll take another party to Walkers gate and supervise the distraction?"

Imogen nodded her head in agreement.

"I'd rather come into the school with you but I'll take the girls to the gate and look after them. Do you want me to take Davina with me?"

"If you would." Miss Cackle was grateful for the suggestion. "It just remains to sort out the group that are coming with me."

Immediately there were voices raised as everyone tried to volunteer. Miss Cackle raised a hand to silence the small group.

"This isn't going to be a fun outing." She reminded them. "This is serious. It could also be dangerous."

"I want to come." Mildred reaffirmed her interest.

"So do I." Enid spoke up. She saw the questioning look on Miss Cackle's face. "I helped carry the stuff into the school; I know where he stored it." She was determined that a lack of magic wasn't going to prevent her from helping.

"Well I'm not sure…" Miss Cackle began to voice her doubts but Miss Drill interrupted.

"You know what Enid's like Miss Cackle; she's always up to something. If there's one girl we can rely on to think quickly on her feet then that's Enid."

Miss Cackle looked at the pleading expression on Enid's face and knew that she couldn't turn the girl down.

"So Enid, Mildred and myself. Who else?"

"I suggest we ask Griselda and a couple of the more experienced girls to go with you in case you do find yourselves in the middle of a magic confrontation." Imogen suggested.

"A good idea." Miss Cackle agreed, "But we mustn't pressure anyone into coming."

"Agreed."

"And I think we should send at least one girl off to inform the Grand Wizard what's happened. He may be able to send us some help."

"Who's the fastest on their broom?" Imogen asked.

"Who's got their broom with them?" Miss Cackle suddenly realised the potential problem with her plan.

"I think I saw Beverley Blackthorn with one." Fenella broke into the conversation.

"She's not the most graceful witch ever to mount a broom." Miss Cackle remarked. "But she's a good enough flyer. I'll go and see her now if the rest of you would start asking around for volunteers?"

With the meeting coming to a natural end the small group disbanded and began the search for volunteers.

* * *

Constance closed her eyes and tried to conserve what little strength she had remaining. Her eyes felt heavy and she wanted nothing more than to drift off to sleep. The experience was a rare one for her and despite the situation she didn't waste the opportunity to take on board the feelings that accompanied the sensation of tiredness. She racked her brains and tried to recall the last time that she had actually felt tired and in need of sleep. 

Over the past few years, sleep had become something that she indulged in less and less frequently. There was so much work to be done; so many potions to develop and sleep had just become an annoying irritation that simply got in the way. The discovery of a wide-awake potion had been her saviour and had allowed her to carry on working into the early hours of most mornings.

She felt her head nod forward as another wave of tiredness washed over her and it was followed by a painful jolt as she forced her eyes to remain open.

She reasoned that if she were the sort of person that was given to public displays of emotion then about now she would be shouting and complaining to the world that things were not fair and that she wanted everything to be back the way that they should be. But, she reminded herself, she wasn't that sort of person and she just had to deal with the situation as best as she could.

Her mind kept playing back something that Haldane had said earlier and the more she tried to think about it, the harder she found it to come up with a time when there hadn't been magic in her life. Every memory she had of childhood seemed to include magic in one form or another; she genuinely couldn't recall a time when it hadn't played an integral part in her life. She had never thought that magic would ever prove to be a weakness but now she was at a loss of what to do without it. She stared at the bands on her wrists. If Haldane had been telling the truth then she would be without magic within a day maybe less. The concept just wasn't believable as far as she was concerned. She'd spent time with Fenella and told her that it was possible to for her to start again and to fight back to regain her witch status but she wasn't sure that she'd find it so easy to follow her own advice. Her magic was that much more ingrained, that much more a part of who she was… Was there anything left when you took away the magic she wondered to herself… Just who was Constance Hardbroom if she wasn't a witch?

* * *

Miss Cackle motioned for the girls behind her to keep quiet as they neared a small wooden gate at the back of the castle. She was banking on Haldane and his gang knowing nothing about the small tradesman's entrance. 

"I never knew this was here." Griselda whispered to the others and they murmured in agreement. Amelia made a mental note to herself to seal the doorway off once they'd solved the problem with Haldane. The last thing she wanted was to show the girls that there was a way to get out of the school undetected. There was a part of her that regretted giving away the location of the secret exit she used to escape to Cosie's tearooms but, she reminded herself, there were times when everyone had to make sacrifices for the greater good.

She pulled on the handle and the door swung silently open. She peered into the darkness and was relieved to not hear any alarms.

"It seems to be clear." She held the door open and beckoned for the girls to enter. She watched as they crept past her and she questioned herself for the umpteenth time as to whether they were doing the right thing. It had been surprisingly easy to gather enough girls together; almost everyone had volunteered to come with her. Imogen had helped her select the girls and she was certain that they had made the right choice. Griselda had the most experience, Maud, Mildred and Enid were a good team and she knew that she could rely on them to stick together and look after each other. They were the advance party and would be joined by the others once they'd completed their distraction duty.

She slipped in through the door after the last girl had entered and pulled the door shut behind her.

"So we're in." Griselda noted. "What now?"

"We need to get to Haldane's box of tricks and shut it down." Miss Cackle said decisively.

"What about Miss Hardbroom?" Mildred wanted to know. "We need to find her." Maud found that she was in agreement with her friend. This was one of those occasions when she really wished that HB would appear from nowhere and scare the life out of her. Deep down she knew that that was unlikely to happen.

"But how are we going to manage that?" Enid asked. "She could be anywhere down here."

Miss Cackle scratched the side of her head for a moment before looking around at the corridor they were in.

"I think I may have an idea." She told the girls. "Can we get to any of the rooms?"

"Miss?"

"Your rooms." Miss Cackle urged. "Can we reach any of them without being spotted do you think?"

"Mine is probably the closest." Mildred replied: confused as to what it was Miss Cackle was planning.

"Ahh" Miss Cackle paused as though weighing up the situation. "Well never mind we'll just have to rely on Tabby's instincts." She beckoned Mildred towards her. "When the girls outside cause their distraction do you think that you could get to your room and bring Tabby down here?"

Mildred nodded, still not really understanding what was going on.

"Good girl." Amelia encouraged her, debating whether to try to persuade the girl to try one of the other rooms and collect a proper witches cat.

"Miss?" She was snapped out of her thought by the sound of Mildred's voice and she saw the girl staring up at her. Now was not the time to be fussy she told herself.

Miss Cackle opened her mouth to explain why they needed the cat but was shushed by Griselda.

"Sorry Miss." She apologised immediately and pointed towards the door.

Miss Cackle followed the pointing finger and saw the latch on the door being raised. She motioned for the girls to hide themselves and then took refuge herself.

After a few moments the door was pushed slowly open and four figures crept in. They padded silently across the room, heading for the door on the other side.

"Just what do you think you are doing?" Miss Cackle stepped out of the shadows and confronted the small group.

Ruby, Jadu, Ethel and Drusilla jumped as they heard the voice. Drusilla clamped a hand over her mouth to prevent a scream of fright escaping from her lips.

"I thought I told you to go with Miss Drill's group." Miss Cackle told the girls.

"We wanted to help." Ethel spoke up. "He's taken our magic and we want to do something about it."

"And this is what motivated all of you?" Miss Cackle glared at all four girls.

"I couldn't let them come on their own without a little magical protection." Jadu explained. "And we agreed that we couldn't let you take on Haldane alone."

Amelia sighed. She wanted to be angry with the girls for disobeying her but there was a part of her that was impressed with their loyalty and their bravery.

"It's going to be harder to move around the castle with a big group." She warned them. "So we may well have to split into two groups. If that's the case then I want the second group to listen and follow Griselda. Is that clear?"

The girls all nodded in agreement.

There was the sound of a huge crash from somewhere in the building and the small group froze. Mildred raised her head as she heard the sound of running footsteps above.

"That must be Miss Drill and her distraction." Griselda announced and Miss Cackle agreed.

"Now is the time to put our plan into action. Are you ready Mildred?" Miss Cackle enquired. Mildred nodded and received a smile in return from her headmistress. "Now you know what to do?"

"Yes Miss." Mildred ran through the instructions. "I'm to try to get to my room to fetch Tabby but I'm not to take any foolish risks." She smiled at Miss Cackle as she completed the sentence.

"Be careful." Amelia whispered.

"I will be." She assured her teacher. She had one foot on the stairs when she turned back. "Why am I doing this Miss?"

"Because if we are to find Miss Hardbroom, I'm going to need your cat to help me."

Mildred shook her head, not really understanding what was going on but she dutifully headed up the stairs towards her room, hoping that Haldane had not left anyone behind on guard.

She felt her heart pounding as she climbed the stairs. She flexed her fingers and ran through a few quick spells. If she met anyone on her route, she was going to make sure that she was prepared.

She finally reached the top and peered slowly round the corner, checking that the corridor ahead was clear. Satisfied that no-one was there she rounded the corner and dashed into her room.

Tabby looked up at her from the bed where he was slowly and deliberately cleaning his paws.

"No time to pamper yourself today." Mildred told him quickly as she picked him up. He mewed in protest as his daily routine was interrupted but Mildred shushed him.

"You've got work to do." She told him as she clutched him to her chest and headed back out of the room.

She ran down the stairs as fast as she could, trying to make as little noise as possible. She wasn't sure exactly why Miss Cackle wanted Tabby but she was sure that there had to be a very good reason.

As she neared the bottom of the stairs the door across the hallway opened and Miss Cackle poked her head out.

"Come on Mildred." She whispered. "The coast is clear."

Mildred dashed across the hallway and into the dark storeroom where the others were now hiding. She skidded to a halt and then looked down to check that Tabby was ok. He looked up at her, blinking slowly and she was sure that she could see the confusion in his eyes. This wasn't the sort of thing that happened to him every day.

"Bring him here." Miss Cackle beckoned her over and she carried him towards Miss Cackle, wondering exactly what her head teacher intended to do with her cat.

"Try not to look so worried dear." Miss Cackle advised her as she took the cat from Mildred's arms. Mildred watched nervously as her headmistress took hold of Tabby and lifted him up. She looked at him for a moment before bringing him close and whispering in his ear.

"What's she doing?" Mildred heard Maud's voice at her shoulder but found that she had no answer for her. She watched, fascinated, as Miss Cackle continued to whisper in his ear. After a few moments she handed Tabby back to Mildred and addressed the small group.

"Right girls now this is where we must decide who is coming downstairs with me."

There was a general murmuring of discontent from the group.

"Now be sensible." Miss Cackle warned them. "We can't all just go charging down to the basement en masse. We need to keep a group up here in reserve."

"As Tabby's my cat, I'm coming with you." Mildred stepped forward. A moment later Maud and Enid were by her side.

"Well girls if you are sure?"

"We're sure Miss." Maud assured the head.

Amelia frowned as she looked at Enid. The girl had no magic to protect herself with. She wanted to tell her that she couldn't come but then she thought about what that might do to the girl's already fragile confidence.

"Very well." She told the group. "It's decided."

"What about the rest of us?" Griselda spoke up. "We're not just going to sit around here and twiddle our thumbs."

"Griselda Blackwood if you spoke to me like that at any other time then you'd find yourself in detention."

"Sorry Miss Cackle."

"That's better. A life or death situation is no excuse for forgetting your manners." She chastised the student and then turned to face Mildred. "Are you sure that Haldane is the only one who has access to magic?"

Mildred nodded.

"I saw him trying to explain magic to the others and they weren't exactly quick on the up take."

"Right then girls." Miss Cackle turned back to face the rest of the group. "Why don't you see if you can keep the rest of Haldane's little gang entertained. I'm sure there are plenty of tricks that you can come up with to annoy them." She pulled Griselda to one side. "Be careful." She warned. "I want you to try and keep everyone safe. If you think that you need to get out of here then don't hesitate and don't wait for us."

Griselda opened her mouth to object but Amelia indicated that she hadn't finished.

"I don't want anything to happen to the girls, I'm relying on you to keep them safe. Do you understand?"

Griselda nodded.

"I'll look after them." She promised.

"Good girl." Miss Cackle turned to face her small party. "Let's get going."

* * *

Haldane swore and tried to stop his team from running to the front of the castle. 

"It's just a distraction." He yelled. "Get back to your posts."

"But they could be launching an attack." Franklin protested.

Haldane shook his head.

"I can't imagine that Amelia Cackle would risk her students lives in an all out attack." He paused for thought. "They might be trying to sneak someone into the school though."

"But we've got the front door covered."

"And until you saw fit to abandon your post we had the back door covered as well." Haldane remarked acidly. "Perhaps you'd be better off if you were actually doing the job that I was paying you to do."

Franklin mumbled his apologies and headed back towards the area he'd been told to guard.

Not for the first time that week, Haldane questioned his choice in hired help.

"They appear to have stopped." Murphy piped up from his place at one of the windows. "Do you think they'll try again?"

Haldane shook his head.

"I think that you should organise a search of the rooms on the lower floor. I get the feeling that they've just attempted to sneak someone…." He broke off as a spasm of pain shot through his body.

"Are you alright sir?" Murphy questioned nervously.

Haldane gritted his teeth and pushed up his right sleeve. The golden amulet on his arm was glowing and flashes of purple were jumping from it.

"Should it be doing that?" Murphy questioned and took a pace away from his boss.

"I'm not sure." Haldane confessed and tried to ride out the pain. He balled his right hand into a fist and tried to subdue the shakes that were making his whole arm judder. He wondered briefly if the amulet was reacting to attempts made by Constance Hardbroom to release herself from the bonds. After a few moments the shaking in his arm subsided and the glow faded from the amulet. Haldane let out a breath. "I think I better go and check in on our guest; make sure that she's not trying anything stupid."

* * *

"We can show you where Haldane was holding us." Enid pointed out as Miss Cackle led the way down the staircase a lantern held high above her head, attempting to illuminate the gloom so that the others could see where they were going. 

"That may be so." Miss Cackle hissed over her shoulder. "But do you know the number of rooms that are down here?"

Enid had to admit that she didn't.

"Not really miss."

"Well that's just as well seeing as the area is off limits." Miss Cackle stopped and addressed the girls. "We are going to have to rely on Tabby's instincts from now on." She told them. "There are numerous rooms down here and if we go blundering from room to room we are more likely to run into Haldane or one of his cronies."

"But what's Tabby going to do?" Mildred wanted to know as she cradled the cat in her arms.

"Put him down." Miss Cackle instructed her. "I think we're probably close enough. I've already told him what I need him to do."

Mildred still had no real idea what was going to happen but she dutifully placed her cat on the ground and watched as he trotted down the stairs before stopping at the bottom and seemingly sniffing the air.

"What the…" Enid's voice dropped away as Tabby turned back towards the group and meowed plaintively.

"Sshh sshh sshhh." Miss Cackle warned him. "Silently if you please." The cat looked at her again for a moment before turning and padding off into the depths of the dungeons.

"Follow that cat." Miss Cackle whispered to the girls and set off after the disappearing tabby.

The girls exchanged glances, unsure of what to say.

"I guess we follow that cat." Maud said finally and shaking their heads in disbelief, the girls followed their headmistress.

The girls trooped after Miss Cackle, ducking into the shadows whenever she did and trying not to question what was going on.

Mildred couldn't believe it when Tabby stopped outside one of the numerous wooden doors and began to meow plaintively.

"Are you sure?" She heard Miss Cackle ask. Her cat appeared to meow again and Miss Cackle was suddenly ordering them all to stand back.

The door swung open amidst a shower of sparkling flames and Mildred called out in fear as Tabby bolted towards the centre of the mini firestorm.

"I thought you said Tabs was a bit of a wimp?" Maud reminded Millie and Mildred could only shrug her shoulders. She was as surprised as Maud at the actions of her cat.

Mildred instinctively followed Tabby into the room, wherever Tabby had gone she wanted to be sure that she could get him back.

"Tabby." She called softly; aware that normally that was enough to cause her cat to come running. There wasn't the familiar sound of paws on stone but after a moment she could make out the loud purring that could only belong to one feline.

"He's by the back wall Miss Cackle."

Amelia shone her lantern towards the back of the room and sure enough, there was Tabby; He was curled up as close as he could get to the prostrate form of Constance Hardbroom.

"Constance!"

Mildred recognised the genuine fear in the voice of her headmistress.

"Tabby?" She called softly. Her cat replied with a low mew but refused to move from where he was. Mildred tried calling again but the cat replied in the same manner.

"Leave him for now." Maud whispered.

"Why won't he come?" Mildred wanted to know. "He knows that I'm his owner."

"Perhaps he realises that someone else needs him more than you do right now."

"What?"

"Sshhh" Miss Cackle hissed at them.

Mildred looked with more than a note of surprise at her headmistress. It was a rare occurrence indeed to see their headmistress so agitated.

"Cats naturally bond with witches." Amelia tried to remind Mildred. "And some witches have a natural affinity with cats."

"But Tabby isn't a normal witches cat." Mildred reminded her.

"Well for some witches that isn't an issue." Miss Cackle informed her. "Some have a better affinity than others."

"Just as well we don't have owls like Pentangles." Enid remarked. "Can you imagine wanting one of those to curl up next to you in time of trouble.

Despite herself, Mildred couldn't help but feel a spark of jealousy. Tabby had been her cat for over a year. She had been the one to feed him and train him and protect him when Winky, Blinky and Nod had tried to pick on him. What was he doing now but sucking up to Miss Hardbroom, the one teacher who had seemed hell bent on getting her kicked out of the school. She looked in Tabby's direction again; her cat was now curled up on Miss Hardbroom's lap. She swore that she'd never heard him purr so loudly before.

"Constance?" Amelia called out softly as she edged closer to the back of the room.

She was perturbed to hear no response from her deputy. She lifted her lantern higher over the figure that was slumped against the back wall. Constance's eyes were closed but her breathing still appeared to be steady.

"Shouldn't we be getting out of here as quickly as we can?" Mildred began to feel more than a little uneasy; she was certain that they shouldn't be hanging around.

"We can't leave Miss Hardbroom here girls." Miss Cackle protested.

The girls had to agree with her but they didn't see how they were going to be able to move HB without help.

What are those things around her wrists?" Enid asked in a hushed voice, as if worried that she might wake Miss Hardbroom.

Miss Cackle shook her head.

"I've never seen anything like them before." She admitted.

"Shouldn't we try and remove them?" Maud asked.

"I suppose we could try." Miss Cackle reasoned.

Mildred bent down to take a closer look at them. They were glowing softly and she swore that she could hear a hum of power coming from them. She reached a hand out towards them but Miss Cackle's voice made her pull up short.

"Be careful." She warned. "They might have some kind of a booby trap on them."

Mildred was careful not to touch the bands but she tried to work out how they snaked around Miss Hardbroom's wrists.

"I can't see how they fasten on." She called back over her shoulder. "There doesn't appear to be a clasp of any kind."

Miss Cackle pulled a face.

"Well if they're magical then they must require magic to remove them." She handed the lantern to Enid and pushed up the sleeves of her robe. "Stand back girls."

"What are you going to do?" Enid wanted to know.

"I'm going to try a little magic of my own." She told them. "I sometimes think that you girls forget what I can do."

"Are you sure it's wise." Mildred couldn't keep the unease from her voice. "I'm not sure what that would happen."

"At this stage the shock that would result from your bumbling interference might well kill her." A booming voice filled the room. The small party turned as one and with sinking hearts realised that Haldane was standing in the doorway.


	15. Chapter 15

_Almost there now... You'll have to come back next week to find out who makes it to the end of the story..._

* * *

****

Mildred watched as Miss Cackle raised her hands as though she were about to cast a spell.

"Tut tut Miss Cackle." Haldane warned her. "Spell casting in an enclosed area can lead to some unwanted results."

"I think I've more idea of what to do than you give me credit for." Amelia was beginning to get more than a little frustrated that everyone seemed to underestimate her magical abilities.

"It's not your competence that I doubt." Haldane informed her. "It's just that if you cast a spell in here someone is going to get hurt." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Now I can't guarantee whether that person is going to be dear Constance or one of your pupils."

Amelia instinctively stood in front of Maud, Enid and Mildred. Haldane laughed softly at the action.

"Those weren't the girls I was referring to although that's not a bad idea."

Amelia's heart spiked at the comment. Was he bluffing or did Haldane really have the other girls somewhere.

"You really want to risk calling me on this?" Haldane wanted to know. Amelia reluctantly lowered her hands and showed that she wasn't going to do anything.

"A wise choice Miss Cackle." He told her with a smile on his face. "Certainly wiser than sending a motley collection of students to try and take me on."

"What have you done with them?" Mildred demanded to know.

Haldane smiled in her direction.

"And what's it to you little one?"

"Don't call me that." She snapped at him without thinking.

She felt Maud pull on her arm and realised that she'd probably overstepped the mark.

Haldane simply smiled at them and motioned that they should stand to one side.

"Shall we see if dear Constance has enough energy left to realise that her 'oh so noble' sacrifice was all in vain?" He cast an eye over the assembled group. "I have to say that I was more than a little surprised to find that you were stupid enough to come back here. If I were you I'd have taken the opportunity that was handed to me and gotten the hell out of Dodge."

Haldane took a pace closer to Constance and raised a hand, a ball of energy appearing in his palm to light the scene. He smiled as he made out the grey tabby cat that was sitting on her lap.

"And just what is that supposed to be?"

"That's…" Mildred was about to explain but was silenced by a gentle tug on the arm by Miss Cackle.

"It's not really what you call a traditional witches cat is it?" Haldane took another pace forward and Tabby was immediately up on his feet. He arched his back and hissed at Haldane as loudly as he could.

"Plucky little fellow isn't he?" He remarked as he moved closer.

Mildred watched as Tabby started shifting his weight around. She recognised the signs; he was getting ready to pounce. She had to confess that she'd never seen him look so serious about it.

"No Tabs." She hissed under her breath. She really hoped that the cat realised that Haldane was trying to make him do something and kept his four paws where they were.

"What are you doing here?" Amelia had stood and watched events for long enough as far as she was concerned. "What do you want from my girls?"

Haldane ignored her and kept his attention fixed on Tabby.

"What loyalties does that animal think he has to her?" He wanted to know. "I can't see Constance Hardbroom caring for any cat that wasn't a pure witches cat."

"It would appear that there are a lot of things you don't know about cats or witches." Amelia told him with more than a note of scorn in her voice. "Maybe you're not as bright as you think."

Haldane spun to face her and the energy ball disappeared from his hand. The only light in the room now came from the lantern that Enid was holding.

"You think to belittle me?" He shook his hand and then pointed it in the direction of Tabby. There was a brief mew of protest and the cat vanished from his place on Constance's lap.

"What have you done with him?" Mildred demanded to know, forgetting that she'd been told to keep quiet.

Haldane smiled.

"Oh he's your cat is he? Well that makes a lot more sense."

"What have you done with Tabby?" Mildred ignored her friends who were trying to pull her back.

Haldane waved his hand again and a black bag appeared on the back of the door. An angry hiss came from within.

"As you can see he's quite safe. It's not him I have a grievance with."

"And prey tell, who exactly do you have a grievance with?" Miss Cackle growled impatiently at him.

"Oh you expect me to name names do you? How very Jessica Fletcher of you."

Miss Cackle stared at Haldane with a look of bemusement on her face.

"I've never heard of Jessica Fletcher. Is she another witch you're having issues with?"

Haldane laughed out loud.

"Hardly Miss Cackle, hardly. I was forgetting just how out of touch you were with popular culture… or even fairly unpopular culture for that matter. What exactly do you think you gain by locking yourselves away from the rest of the world?"

"For starters we don't have to listen to self-important wind bags like you." Came a very pointed remark from the shadows.

"Miss Hardbroom." Mildred made to take a step forward but Haldane gestured to her to remain where she was.

"Leave her alone." Haldane warned. "You touch those bands and one of you will get a nasty shock." He raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps a fatal shock."

"At this moment in time even a fatal shock would be preferable if it meant that I didn't have to listen to any more of your petty posturing."

"Are you ok Constance?" Amelia took the chance to try and get some reassurance from her deputy.

"I can honestly report that I've had better days."

Amelia frowned. There was a definite spark missing from Constance's tone.

"Ladies, ladies." Haldane blocked the direct line of vision between the pair. "This is all very touching but I'm afraid that there are things to be done and I just can't stand around here chatting with you as though you didn't have a care in the world." He gestured towards the door where Franklin and Murphy were now standing. "If you'd care to follow the two gentlemen Miss Cackle, they'll lead you and your girls to your new accommodation." He bowed in Enid's direction. "Although I believe that it won't be so new to all of you."

"We're not just going to leave Miss Hardbroom, are we?" Maud hissed under her breath.

"That's exactly what you are going to do." Haldane told her. "In fact it's exactly what you should have done in the first place. Now if you please, my patience is starting to wane."

Miss Cackle shepherded the girls in front of her. She didn't see what else she could do. The way things were stacked up at the moment, there was nothing she could do but follow Haldane's instructions and hope that somewhere down the line he made a mistake.

She took a quick look back over her shoulder as she left the room, trying to get a final look at Constance, wanting to find out just how much strength her deputy had left. If it came to a fight, she needed to know that she wasn't going to be going up against someone who was wielding all of Constance's power.

The man that Haldane had called Murphy nudged her in the back, indicating that she should move faster. She craned her neck and tried to stare past him but all she could make out was Haldane.

* * *

Haldane waited until the others were clear of the room before he approached Constance.

"What's going on?" He demanded to know.

Constance wearily raised her head.

"I've been out of circulation for a little while so I'm not really the best person to ask."

Haldane swore beneath his breath and knelt down in front of Constance.

"Don't try to get smart with me." He warned her. He opened his mouth to say something further but was unable to speak as a shaft of pain shot through him. He rose to his feet and staggered back until he reached the wall, clutching at his head as the pain drilled into his skull.

"What are you doing?" He finally forced the words out as the pain began to subside.

Constance regarded him with a frosty glare but didn't respond.

When he felt as though he had regained enough control over himself that he could move without falling over, he made his way over to her side and knelt down next to her.

"What the hell was all that about?"

Constance ignored him and stared straight ahead.

"I asked you a question." Haldane snarled grabbing hold of her chin and forcing her to face him. "What the hell are you playing at?"

Constance blinked slowly and regarded him with a measure of distain.

"I warned you that you were not ready to deal with that much power."

"Bull." Haldane shook his head. "I don't buy all that. This must be some kind of a trick."

"There are reasons why it takes a witch many years to reach a high level of proficiency in the arts." Constance told him firmly. "One of those reasons is the fact that the human body was not designed to contain high levels of magic. The only way to safely get round that is to introduce magic a little at a time. That way a tolerance builds up and the amount can be increased."

Haldane rose to his feet and backed away from Constance, not really sure whether or not he should believe her.

"You've tried to take on too much." She warned him. "Your system won't be able to contain it and the magic will prove too powerful for you to handle. It will most probably destroy you."

Haldane shook his head, trying to dismiss Constance's words.

"I don't buy it." He tried to tell her but his voice was lacking the confidence it had had earlier. "I took all the magic from Pentangles and nothing happened then."

"But you didn't try and wield that magic for yourself, did you?" She narrowed her eyes and then a faint smile appeared on her face. "I know I'm right." She told him. "I can see the magic in the air all around you. It's very faint but it's there."

"Rubbish." Haldane scoffed but he glanced at the air around him all the same.

"The walls of this castle are steeped in magic." Constance's voice broke into the silence. "There have been witches living and working within these walls for centuries. More than a little magic has found its way into the walls in that time. You aren't going to find it as easy taking all the magic from this place as you did Pentangles."

"Shut up." Haldane snapped, not liking the way that the witch was making him feel uneasy.

"You wanted to know what I thought." She reminded him. "And what I think is that you are starting to lose your grip on something that is far stronger than you are."

Haldane stared at the amulet on his arm and thought over what Constance had said. If he closed his eyes, he could feel the magic rushing through his body. It invigorated him and made him feel as though nothing could stop him. He shook his head; she was just trying to scare him.

"I'll show you just how well I can wield the power." He told her and conjured up another ball of fizzing energy in his palm. He launched it in her direction and watched as it spread in flight and engulfed the witch.

* * *

Mildred stared down at her feet as Haldane's two henchmen ushered them down the corridor. This wasn't the way that things were supposed to have gone; it was supposed to have been a grand rescue mission ending in glory with them getting HB back and being proclaimed the heroes of the school. They were not supposed to end up being frog-marched down a corridor by a couple of idiots. Mildred stopped short as a thought struck her. Maud let out a yelp as moments later she walked into the back of her friend.

"What's going on?" Murphy growled as he noticed that two of the girls had stopped.

"What are you doing Millie?" Maud hissed at her friend.

"We're witches aren't we?" Mildred whispered. "So why aren't we just using our powers to get away from here?"

Maud's eyes widened as she realised what Mildred was saying.

"It could be dangerous." She warned. "They might do something to the others if we do anything."

"But surely they wouldn't miss one of us?" Mildred insisted, an idea forming in her head.

Maud wanted to tell Mildred that her idea was too dangerous but there was something in it that made sense.

"Move on." Murphy pushed Maud in the back in an effort to get the small group moving along again.

"Get off." Maud protested and cast a simple shock spell in his direction.

"Aaarrgghh." Murphy jumped in the air as the spell struck home and Maud couldn't prevent a laugh from escaping her lips.

"Girls, girls." Miss Cackle tried to calm the situation but Enid saw the opportunity for some mayhem and shouted her suggestion for a spell to Maud. Maud grinned as she realised what her friend had just suggested and immediately set about conjuring the biggest cloud of fog that she could manage.

"Keep together." Murphy yelled angrily at the girls as he desperately tried to keep sight of them through the quickly thickening cloud of fog.

"Where are you?" Miss Cackle called out to the girls, worried that their actions might cause uncomfortable consequences for Miss Hardbroom or the other girls.

Maud tried to peer through the now thick cloud of fog, guessing where her friend might now be standing.

"You'd better get going." She whispered.

"I'll get help." A voice whispered back at her through the grey blanket of fog.

Mildred crept to the shadows and heard the swearing from Haldane's men as they pushed the others back into a group and manhandled them down the corridor towards the one of the storerooms.

Her heart was pounding as she crouched down and she squeezed her eyes shut as if in some way that would help her avoid detection.

If Haldane had been telling the truth earlier, it sounded as though he'd managed to round the rest of the school up. She gulped as she realised the enormity of the task in front of her. If she was the only one at liberty then the fate of the school depended on her. She had to make a choice; did she try to make a run for it and hope to reach help, or did she try to take on Haldane single-handed and hope that a plan would magically form itself inside her mind?

She looked at the corridor that led back to the surface. Running away as fast as she could sounded so appealing. If she could get outside the school grounds then there was very little chance that Haldane could follow her. And what could she do all by herself against Haldane and his team?

She drew herself up to her full height and took a few paces down the corridor. She stopped and strained her ears to see if she could sense anyone in front of her. There was nothing. She gathered up a little more courage and began to move more quickly towards the exit.

She was within twenty feet of the heavy wooden door that led to the ground floor when she slowed to a halt. What was she doing? She couldn't run away and leave her friends at the mercy of Haldane. Once he realised that she was missing there was no telling what he'd do to the others in an effort to find out where she'd gone. She stood in the gloom of the corridor and her head filled with images of what might befall her friends if she was to run away and abandon them.

"You can't run away." She told herself. She turned on her heel and faced back down the way that she'd just come. If she was going to stay, she had to have a plan and there was only one person who'd be able to help her come up with a suitable plan.

* * *

Mildred listened at the door for a few moments to make sure that neither Haldane nor his gang were in the room. Once she was satisfied that the coast was clear she lifted up the latch and pushed the door open.

There was no light source within the room and Mildred had to wait for a few seconds for her eyes to become accustomed to the gloom. She pushed the door closed behind her and there was the sound of plaintive mewing.

"Oh Tabby."

Remembering the cat's predicament, she lifted the black bag down from the peg it had been hung on and placed it gently on the floor.

"Who's there?"

Mildred stood up straight as she heard the faint call from the other side of the room. She was unused to hearing Miss Hardbroom's voice sound so weak.

"It's me Miss." She hissed back. "Mildred."

"Mildred?" There was confusion in Constance's tone. "You shouldn't be here." She told her pupil. "You should be well away from here with Miss Cackle and the others."

Mildred frowned.

"But Miss Cackle was here only a short while ago."

Constance shook her head.

"Impossible. I held Haldane up so that everyone could get out of here."

"We came back for you."

Constance sighed heavily and shook her head.

"So I didn't dream it then?"

"Miss?"

"You lot blundering in here and getting yourselves caught again?"

Mildred's head dropped.

"No Miss. You didn't dream it."

The bands around Miss Hardbroom's wrists and neck glowed for a few seconds before fading back to their usual light purple hue.

"Are you alright?" Mildred asked with concern as she moved a few steps closer.

Constance took in a few shallow breaths.

"He's taking more magic." She told Mildred. "My guess is that he's realised you've gone and is exacting a little…" Her voice broke off as the bands glowed again. The glow lasted for a few seconds longer this time.

"Miss?" Mildred called into the gloom when Miss Hardbroom made no attempt to complete the sentence she'd started. "Miss?"

"Just exactly what does she think she'll accomplish?" Haldane demanded to know.

Miss Cackle tried to push the other girls behind her and out of the way of Haldane's energy blasts. He'd been shouting at them ever since he'd been informed that Mildred was missing. He'd launched a few energy balls in their direction and only the quick reactions of Enid had prevented any of them from being hurt.

"My guess is that she'll try and get as far away from here as possible." Miss Cackle spoke up.

Haldane smiled but there was no humour in his eyes.

"Oh I very much doubt that." He told her. "I think she's much more likely to try and get back to your Miss Hardbroom."

"I wouldn't bank on it." Enid snapped at him. "Mildred and HB have never exactly had the best of relationships." She winced as she remembered that Miss Cackle was in the room with her.

Haldane's smile grew wider.

"HB? Well I know what I think it stands for." He motioned to Franklin to open the door of the room at the end of the corridor. "If you ladies wouldn't mind waiting. I'm going to tackle our little troublemaker before I come back and relieve you of a little magic." He paused and watched as they slowly filed into the room. "I'm sure you won't object to waiting a few minutes longer."

Mildred paced nervously back and forth across the room, trying to decide what to do next. Her first instinct had been to run from the room. She was scared. If Miss Hardbroom was as weak as she appeared to be then Mildred feared that all was lost. She'd been relying on HB to help her. She glanced in the direction of her teacher again, hoping to see some change but all she could see was the same lowered head.

There was a part of her that wanted to go over to her teacher and make sure that everything was ok but there was another part of her that was scared what she might find. What if HB wasn't just unconscious? What if Haldane had succeeded in taking all her magic from her? Mildred wasn't sure what Miss Hardbroom would be like if she didn't have magic. HB commanded more magic than anyone else she had ever met. Mildred wasn't sure exactly what an HB without magic would be like.

"Mildred."

At first Mildred thought that she'd imagined the voice but then she heard it again; a faint voice calling her name. She turned towards Miss Hardbroom and saw that her eyes were now half open, her head tilted back against the dank stone wall.

"Miss Hardbroom." Mildred, relieved to see that her teacher was conscious once again, rushed quickly to her side and knelt down, aware that her teacher's voice wouldn't carry far. "What is it?"

"Listen carefully." Constance whispered. "We haven't much time."

Mildred frowned as she heard a spell being whispered. HB's voice was very weak and Mildred wasn't sure that she was catching every word correctly. When Constance had finished Mildred sat back on her heels.

"I don't understand." She finally confessed. "What is it going to do?"

"Swap the bands." Constance managed to whisper. "Her renewed strength was already ebbing and she needed Mildred to understand quickly what needed to be done. "You must swap the bands between Haldane and myself."

"Can't you do it?" Mildred asked desperately, not wanting the responsibility.

Constance shook her head.

"The bands prevent all use of magic." Constance closed her eyes as she felt a heavy wave of exhaustion wash over her. She'd learnt that that meant Haldane was trying out his powers. "Quickly Mildred, you must do this."

"But Miss…" Mildred was confused. "If the bands prevent magic then how can I…"

"Mildred Hubble now is not the time to quibble." Constance snapped back at her. She knew that her strength was likely to fail at any time and she knew that they couldn't afford to waste this opportunity. "I'm banking that this is one spell that Haldane won't have thought of. Don't let anything distract you." Constance advised her. "Ignore anything that you hear whilst you're casting the spell and make sure that you keep going. Concentrate on removing the amulet from Haldane's arm and replacing it with the bands."

"But…"

"You've seen the amulet?"

Mildred nodded.

"Yes Miss."

"So concentrate on it and cast the spell."

"But Miss!"

"Mildred!" Constance's tone was firm.

"Yes Miss." Mildred swallowed nervously and closed her eyes concentrating on visualising what it was she wanted to do. Miss Cackle had drilled into them from day one that the right words were not always essential for the spell to work; what was important though was the right feeling. Mildred concentrated hard on seeing the glowing bands that bound her teacher's wrists together; she knew exactly where she wanted them to appear. She screwed her eyes up tightly and bunched her hands into two tight fists. She tried to banish the thought from her mind that the future of Cackles could rest upon her getting the incantation correct and began reciting the words.

"It's not working." She complained fearfully after a few moments. She knew that she was getting the words right but nothing was happening.

"Take your time." She heard Miss Hardbroom tell her softly; in a tone she was sure that she'd never heard her teacher use before. "Just let the magic guide you Mildred, let the magic guide you."

Mildred wanted to open her eyes and ask her teacher what she meant but she didn't want to risk forgetting the words.

"Relax. Let the magic do the work."

Mildred took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, feeling her shoulders start to relax. She began to run through the words of the spell again and gradually her closed fists opened and she truly began to believe that she could feel the magic running through her.

Her eyes were no longer screwed tightly shut; she felt as though she were in a peaceful slumber rather than in the midst of an incantation.

She finally reached the end of the spell and there was an amazing rush of adrenaline through her body. She felt as though every fibre of her being was being infused with a power that she'd never experienced before. On an impulse she raised her hands and extended her fingers. Her eyes snapped open as she felt a bolt of energy leap from her fingertips.

"No!" She yelled loudly as she watched the bolt of bright blue slam into Miss Hardbroom and heard the scream of pain as it struck its target.


	16. Chapter 16

_Sorry that this has taken so long to post, I was stranded for a week with no internet access… it was terrifying. I've had to split the last part of the story into two parts as it got a little out of hand. I hope to have the **very final** part up by the end of today or tomorrow at the latest._

_It's been a blast._

* * *

"Oh no. No no no." Mildred kept repeating the word over and over again as the last few seconds replayed unbidden through her mind. All she could see was the blinding blue bolt that had launched itself from her fingertips and flown directly at Miss Hardbroom.

The energy that had coursed through her system was now however all gone and her arms dropped lifelessly to her side. She felt exhausted, completely spent, as though someone or something had completely sucked the life out of her. She tried to take a step forward but her knees buckled and she dropped down to the floor.

"No-one ever said magic was going to be easy Mildred Hubble." A voice muttered painfully from the darkness.

Mildred raised her head, as if fearing that she was imagining things.

"M…m…miss?" She stumbled fearfully.

"Don't sound so disappointed Mildred." Came the reply. There was the merest hint of amusement in Constance's tone, as her voice grew stronger.

"Miss Hardbroom." Mildred finally found her voice and her feet. She stumbled towards her potions teacher and tried to work out what had just happened.

"Well that wasn't quite what I was expecting." Constance admitted as she tried to get her thoughts in order. She looked at her wrists and saw that they were no longer bound together; instead, there was a large golden amulet on her right arm. Instinctively she raised a hand to her neck and breathed a sigh of relief as she realised that that band had been removed as well. She was still feeling decidedly unlike herself though. She knew that it was unlikely that she'd be able to stand without help.

She looked up to see Mildred Hubble staring down at her and despite herself her heart sank a little.

"Are you alright?" There was a hint of uncertainty in Mildred's voice.

"It wasn't exactly what I had in mind Mildred." Constance confessed. "But you do seem to have done it." She raised her arm to let Mildred see the amulet.

"Oh Miss." Mildred leant forward and without thinking gave Miss Hardbroom a hug.

Mildred felt Miss Hardbroom briefly return the action before she was pushed away and she rocked back on her heels.

"You must hurry Mildred. There isn't time to waste. Haldane will realise what's going on and be back here."

"But you're not wearing the bands any more Miss." Mildred protested.

"That may be the case Mildred but I certainly don't have the strength to do anything against Haldane."

"What can I do?"

Constance raised an eyebrow.

"What indeed!"

Mildred however had no time to do anything as the door to the room was flung open and the light from the passageway cast Haldane in silhouette.

"Well, well, well. What a surprise to find you here."

Mildred rose uncertainly to her feet and turned to face him.

"You don't scare me." She lied nervously. "You don't have the power anymore."

"And I suppose you are the one who is going to stop me from taking the amulet back?"

"Maybe." Mildred felt her frail confidence begin to falter and crack as she realised that in reality she was still the only person who could stand up to Haldane at the present time.

"And what do you say after seeing this?" Haldane raised his arms and Mildred saw the bands loosely hung around his wrists; they didn't bind his wrists in the same way that they had HB. Her heart sank and from behind her she heard Miss Hardbroom utter a string of expletives; words that she hadn't realised her teacher even knew existed.

Haldane laughed and shook his arms, causing the two bands to fall to the floor. He then reached up and removed the third band that hung loosely around his neck.

"That was a very risky thing to try Constance." He chided her and held out the remaining band towards her. "Someone up there must be smiling down on you because that little trick of yours could have killed you."

Mildred's mouth dropped open and she looked from Haldane to her teacher and back again.

Haldane noticed the look on Mildred's face.

"I kid you not." He assured her. "If you'd got one thing wrong then the charge from the bands would most probably have killed her." He smiled. "You'd have been famous within these walls as the pupil that killed her own teacher." He watched as Mildred turned to face Miss Hardbroom again. "I'd be angry with her if I were you Mildred. I can see that she didn't warn you of the consequences. Quite how she thought you'd cope with her blood on your hands is something of a mystery. I wonder if she'd be so kind as to clear the matter up."

Mildred wanted to tell Haldane to shut up but found that she was at a loss for words. She turned her attention instead to her teacher.

"Is he telling the truth?" Her voice was quiet and there was a quaver in the tone. There was no immediate response and so Mildred asked her question again.

"There was a risk." Constance finally told her, her voice sounding tired and flat. "I knew it was a possibility but the spell had to be tried."

"Did it?" Mildred's voice shot up an octave. "What if you had have been killed?"

"It was a calculated risk Mildred."

"It was downright irresponsible." Mildred snapped without thinking.

"And who are you to lecture me on the topic of responsibility?" There was a note of humour in Constance's tone.

"Ladies, ladies." Haldane interrupted the growing argument. "I think you'll find there are far more pressing matters to attend to." He smiled at Constance. "I know you've just been stalling for time to try and build your power back up but you've lost a lot Constance. It's going to take hours if not days to try and claw back what is yours." He let the band he was holding in his hand drop to the floor. "If I'd been wearing these then maybe you would have stood a chance of taking back what's yours. Without them you don't have a hope."

Constance looked down at the amulet on her wrist and was almost mesmerised by the way that the magic seemed to float and wrap itself around the golden band. She wanted to shut out Haldane's words. There had to be someway of getting her magic back, there just had to be. She could sense the magic in the air but she wasn't sure that there was a way of drawing it towards herself without the bands.

"I think I've wasted enough time on the pleasantries." Haldane told the two. "I want the amulet back."

Mildred looked immediately towards her teacher and was pleased to see her shaking her head.

"You think I'm just going to hand it back after all the trouble I went to to get it?"

Haldane smiled again.

"I think that you've got enough common sense to realise that I'm now the most powerful person in the room. You hand the amulet back or I make your life very uncomfortable indeed."

Constance arched an eyebrow.

"Your petty threats don't scare me Mr Harrington. A room full of 1st years and an enlarging potion inspires more fear than you."

"Talk is cheap Constance. You're not a match for me and you know it."

Mildred waited for Miss Hardbroom to tell Haldane that he was wrong but her teacher remained worryingly silent. She turned her head to look at her and saw the red and silver mist that was starting to gather around her. Mildred had never seen so much pure magic before and the beauty of it took her breath away. She narrowed her eyes and she could make out other colours that were spiralling around the amulet; they were fainter but they seemed irresistibly drawn towards the golden band. Mildred's heart surged with hope. Perhaps the bands weren't essential for HB to regain her magic; perhaps the amulet was strong enough to draw any magic to it.

She turned her head back towards Haldane. If the amulet was giving HB her strength back then she had to prevent Haldane getting his hands on it at all costs.

"Alvarix orcus…" She began intoning the first spell that came to her head but Haldane simply laughed at her and the next thing she knew, she was flying through the air to land at Miss Hardbroom's side.

"Sorry Miss." She automatically apologised but HB appeared to not be listening, her eyes were closed and it looked as though she was in some kind of trance.

"Is that all you've got?" Haldane demanded to know, the amusement plain in his voice.

Mildred clenched her fists and unsteadily climbed back to her feet again.

"Are you really intending to try and stop me?" Haldane asked her with more than a hint of amusement in his voice. "What an irritatingly persistent witch you are." He broke off from his next sentence as he spotted something moving out of the corner of his eye.

Raising a hand, he threw an energy ball into the air. It glowed for a few seconds before fading away. His eyes took in a grey tabby cat as it bolted across the room towards the two witches.

"It appears someone let the cat out of the bag." He remarked.

Mildred watched as Tabby scooted to hide behind Miss Hardbroom.

Haldane smiled and conjured up a glowing energy ball in the palm of his hand.

"You know I've grown inordinately fond of these things in a remarkably short space of time." He manipulated his fingers and watched mesmerised as the crackling ball of energy responded.

Mildred swallowed nervously and racked her brains, desperately trying to think of what to do next.

"There's nowhere left to run." He warned her as he raised his right arm.

Mildred closed her eyes and waited for the worst to happen.

She became aware of what sounded like a low humming coming from her side. She turned her head and saw that, rather than doing nothing, Miss Hardbroom had in fact been psyching herself up for action. Mildred was more than a little taken aback. She had assumed that her teacher would have been too weak to try anything so quickly.

She noted that HB's hands were together, her spell casting fingers touching. As Mildred watched she swore that she could see sparks of red jump between her extended fingers. The humming grew louder and formed into words. Mildred strained to hear but found that she couldn't make out what was being said.

She watched as Miss Hardbroom took a deep breath and pulled her hands apart. A blinding red crackle of light filled the space and Mildred gasped as the arc of light shot out in Haldane's direction.

"Oh no you don't." Haldane yelled and launched a counter spell.

The purple jet of power broke through and slammed into Constance. She gasped in pain as the bolt landed.

"A little help here would be useful Mildred." She hissed under her breath before returning all her concentration to the spell she was trying to cast.

Mildred was jolted back to reality and took a pace forward; unsure just what it was that she could do.

She looked at the way that Haldane was staggering under the effect from HB's spell. She was obviously attempting to claw her power back. Mildred assumed that she was in some way soaking up the magic that Haldane had used on her. The pained expression on her face showed plainly that the task was not an easy one.

Mildred raised her hands to cast a spell of her own but paused. What if her spell ended up counteracting the effects of the spell that Miss Hardbroom was going for? The potions teacher had spent a great deal of time explaining the dangers of combining spells when they had been in the first year. The talk had made such an impact on her that she'd had a nightmare for weeks where she got something wrong in a group spell casting session and turned everyone else in the room into Yorkshire Terriers.

Her mind went blank and she just stood there with her hands raised, at a loss as to what she should do.

Haldane's power found its way through to Miss Hardbroom again and she let out another cry as a bolt of pure energy slammed into her.

Mildred bit down on her lip. There was no time to worry about unwanted effects of spells. She had to do something and soon.

She closed her eyes and began reciting the first spell that came into her head.

"Alverix Orcus Transfrogamorphus floppylog donkeybrae, transferus asinae!"

She held her hands out in front of her and watched as the magic seemed to leap from her fingers towards Haldane.

Haldane took a step back as the effects of the spell struck him but it didn't take any effect in fact, it barely seemed to slow him down.

"I don't understand." Mildred called out, desperate to be heard above the noise of the magical duel that was taking place.

To her surprise, it was Haldane who turned to answer her.

"Isn't it obvious?" He taunted. "I'm too powerful now. I've too much magic for a little witch like you to be able to do anything to affect me."

Mildred looked towards Miss Hardbroom, hoping that her teacher would contradict him but she didn't.

Haldane laughed at the discomfort on Mildred's face.

"How does it feel to realise that you've met someone who can control more power than you thought possible?"

Mildred just shook her head in disbelief; there had to be something she could do.

The answer struck Mildred between the eyes. There was something she could do; there was one obvious answer to the problem. She waited until Haldane's attention was focussed once again on Miss Hardbroom and then made a dash for the door.

Haldane caught her exit out of the corner of her eye and let her go. He smiled and pushed more effort into his attack against Miss Hardbroom.

* * *

Constance knew that she couldn't hold out for much longer. What little strength she had gathered from the air around her was failing fast and although Haldane couldn't draw any more of her magic from her, he still had a sizable amount of power. She gritted her teeth and tried to push back against the latest onslaught.

"It seems that everyone abandons you." Haldane remarked. "No matter. I'll deal with the little witch later."

"You underestimate her." Constance warned him but Haldane merely smiled at her in return.

"I'll deal with you and then I'll take the magic from every witch in this school."

Haldane smiled triumphantly as Constance's red crackling streams of energy began to falter.

"Having a little trouble are we?" He sneered at her.

Constance felt the beads of perspiration that were forming on her forehead. This was one battle that she couldn't afford to lose but there was nothing she could do against someone who was wielding her own strength against her.

* * *

Mildred sprinted as fast as she could down the passageway, hoping that none of Haldane's gang were in the vicinity. There was only one way that they could take Haldane out and for her plan to succeed she'd need the help of her fellow pupils.

A small voice in her head told her that she had to hurry, there was no way that HB was going to hold out against Haldane for much longer.

She rounded the corner and immediately threw herself at the shadows as she spotted a figure up ahead. Her heart was thumping hard in her chest and she struggled to think clearly. She had to get whoever it was out of the way and fast. The only spell that was buzzing round in her head was the one that she had tried and failed to use only minutes earlier. She forced herself to take a deep breath; there was nothing for it, she had to try it. She tried to steady her nerves and then took a pace out into the light. She levelled her hands at the person in front of her and began the spell.

* * *

"Thought you said that I couldn't control the power?" Haldane taunted as he pushed harder against Constance's failing defences.

Constance's breathing was shallow and fast as she clung onto every ounce of strength that she could muster.

"No witty comebacks, no snappy retorts? How very disappointing." Haldane closed his eyes and concentrated on making a final push. He felt, rather than saw her power fail and as the smile spread across his face he heard the cry as he finally won the battle.

"Well I have to say that was very satisfying." Haldane remarked as he lowered his hands. His face was streaked with perspiration and he felt his heart pounding heavily within his chest. He glanced down at his hands and saw that they were shaking. He tried to clench his fists but found that he couldn't yet control his muscles. He concentrated all his efforts on trying to get his hands to move but the shaking didn't subside, in fact it seemed to be working it's way up his arms. Within moments his whole body was shaking. He tried to keep calm but panic was beginning to set in.

He glanced in Constance's direction to see if she was in any way connected to what was going on but her head was bowed. He was fairly certain that she was still conscious but he doubted very much that she had the strength to move.

Constance winced as she tried to move. Haldane's aim had been true and every bone in her body ached. The world around her was blurring as she struggled to remain conscious, she sensed Tabby at her side and heard the reassuring purr as the cat pushed himself against her side.

She raised her head as she heard the door being thrown open. Her vision was tunnelling as her strength was failing but she just about made out the group of people that were standing in the doorway. A faint smile reached the corners of her mouth. Now Haldane had something to worry about.

"You tried to pick us off one at a time." Mildred's voice broke the silence. "But I bet you can't take us all on at once."

Mildred stood in the doorway, flanked on either side by some of her fellow pupils. She was pleased to see that Miss Hardbroom was still with them. She nodded to the other girls and as one they raised their hands and began intoning a spell.

Haldane forced his hands out in front of him and threw a bolt of crackling energy in their direction.

Mildred closed her eyes as the bolt neared them, hoping that the barrier that Miss Cackle had thrown up was going to be strong enough to deflect the bolt away.

The vivid purple bolt was only centimetres from her head when it crackled and fizzed as it struck the invisible force field. There was a flash of green as the beam smashed against the barrier and Mildred was momentarily distracted by the beauty of what was happening in front of her.

"Mildred!" Her headmistresses' shout brought her attention back to the here and now and she turned her concentration back towards leading the power transference spell.

* * *

Constance's eyes widened as she realised what the girls were attempting to do. Transferring magic from one witch to another was frowned upon by the witches code; it dedicated no less than 15 paragraphs to possible punishments and potential side effects of attempting such a spell. The risks were there in print for all to see. Despite the situation, Constance was more than a little surprised that Amelia had agreed to such a spell being used.

Tabby rose from his place on her lap and arched his back as he sensed the build up of magic in the air. That much raw magic was something that he wasn't used to and he couldn't decide whether it presented a danger to him or not. He waited for guidance from the witch next to him.

Constance raised her right arm and saw the way that magic was now once again swirling around the intricate patterns that were engraved upon the amulet's surface. There were definitely more strands of magic in the air this time though and Constance began to think that maybe Tabby was right to be uneasy. She'd been the one to tell Haldane that there was magic in the walls of the castle; what she hadn't considered was the fact that the sheer amount of magic might prove too much for her to handle. She closed her eyes as she felt the energy work it's way into her system.


	17. Chapter 17

_I was beginning to think that the day would never come but here it is, the final part of this story. I've had an absolute blast writing it and I hope that you guys have enjoyed it. Thanks to everyone that reviewed. It's always good to know what people are thinking and it really does help to motivate the writing._

_Here's to the next one…and hopefully it'll be slightly shorter. Ye gads this thing ended up over 60,000 words long!_

* * *

Mildred stared through the green barrier as it flashed and fizzed as Haldane launched bolt after bolt at the group of girls standing in the doorway. She kept her eyes fixed on Miss Hardbroom and watched in amazement as wisps of red magic swirled and danced in the air. She was transfixed by the sight of the raw magic and fleetingly wondered if she'd ever manage to wield that much power.

A not so gentle dig in the ribs from Maud snapped her attention back to the task in hand and she put more effort into the incantation. If the spell worked as she hoped it would then HB would receive her magic back and Haldane would be returned to his normal self. Miss Cackle had shot her a disapproving look when she threw open the door of the room and announced her intention to the girls. She understood that witches were not supposed to steal magic from one another but this was an emergency.

Haldane let out a shout of frustration as he began to feel the magic slip away from him.

"You are not going to win." He yelled at the girls and pushed against the barrier again. He felt it give slightly beneath his efforts and allowed himself a small smile. Amelia Cackle might be a proficient witch but she didn't have the power of her deputy. Haldane closed his eyes and concentrated his power on where he believed the weak point in the barrier lay. He let fly with a bolt of energy and was pleased to hear a squeal of fear from the girls as the barrier faltered and then failed.

"Not so confident now are we?" He taunted them as he psyched himself up for another onslaught.

"If you think the girls are scared of you then you've seriously underestimated them."

Haldane spun round at the sound of Constance's voice. She was standing at his shoulder, two of the bands held in her hands. Well she was nearly standing there. As he stared at her, he realised that he could see straight through her and still see her sitting on the floor.

"I believe these are yours." The semi-transparent version told him and in one fluid motion slipped the bands over his hands. She then flicked her wrists and the bands tightened themselves around his wrists.

"What the…" Haldane exclaimed in shock.

Constance met his gaze for a second before she disappeared.

Mildred's mouth nearly dropped onto the floor as she watched what was unfolding in front of her eyes. She knew that she wasn't the only one to be impressed as she heard a sharp intake of breath from Miss Cackle.

"I didn't even know that was possible." Maud whispered breathlessly as she switched her focus between the two Miss Hardbroom's.

"What if she does this from now on?" A nasty thought struck Mildred. "We'll never get any peace."

Haldane stared down at the bands that were now snugly fitted around his wrists. Despite himself, he attempted to use magic to get them off. There was a bright flash of purple and he cried out as the bands resisted his attempts to use magic.

"I believe that the more you do that, the stronger the shock will become." Constance told him flatly.

Haldane snarled at the words and tried again to free himself from the bands. This was not the way that things were supposed to go; this was not the way that he had planned things. He cried out as the bands emitted another shock to his system.

Mildred's face lit up with a wide smile as she realised what had just happened. With the bands safely on Haldane's wrists, there was no way that he could cast any more bolts in their direction. She motioned for the others to stop the transference spell and a strange silence fell upon the room.

"This isn't over." Haldane raged and tried to free himself from the bands again. There was another flash of light and Haldane roared in pain as the bands delivered another shock.

"Oh for heaven's sake." Constance waved her hand and Haldane froze, statue like, on the spot. "Can someone put him somewhere where he can't do himself any more harm until we work out what to do with him?"

"Fenella, Griselda. I'd like you to supervise the movement of Mr Harrington to a secure location." Miss Cackle instructed. "And I don't want to hear any tales of how you accidentally dropped him during the journey!" She glared at the two girls and they reluctantly nodded in return. Satisfied that nothing untoward was going to happen to him she rushed to the side of her deputy and knelt beside her.

"How are you Constance?"

"Convalescent." Constance lied through her teeth, wanting nothing more than to pass out on the spot. "Where are the girls who lost their magic?"

"Let's not worry about that now Constance." Amelia secretly wanted nothing more than to sort the issue out then and there but she was very concerned about her colleague's health.

"Bring them forward Miss Cackle." Constance instructed. As Mildred and co had started the transference spell she had felt immediately that some of the magic that had been returning to her had not been hers. She had welcomed the feelings but they had most certainly not been hers; there had been a certain naivety to them that she had not experienced in a long time. This was without doubt the magic of young witches. She watched as Ethel, Enid, Drusilla and Ruby stepped forward. She smiled inwardly, so this was how it felt to be a second year again.

"Come on girls." Miss Cackle instructed them, unsure as to exactly what it was Miss Hardbroom was going to do. She looked towards her colleague for instruction. "Do you need Fenella as well?"

Constance shook her head.

"This will be fine to start with."

Constance drew in a deep breath and motioned for the four witches to line up in front of her. She had to confess that it was a novel experience to be looking up at her pupils and it wasn't something that she particularly felt comfortable with; the purring grey tabby cat on her lap did nothing to improve the scene. She raised a hand and motioned for the girls to stand closer together.

"This should only take a moment." She raised her left hand to join her right and concentrated on the raw untamed magic that she knew wasn't hers. She closed her eyes and felt her forefingers and little fingers stretch out.

Miss Cackle took a step backwards as four coloured streams of magic leapt from Constance's fingers and enveloped the girls standing in front of her. She bit back the question that sprang immediately to her lips. She was certain that Constance knew what she was doing. She crossed her fingers and offered up a small prayer to whoever might be listening. If there was one thing she didn't relish it was writing more letters to parents explaining what had happened to their children. Over her years in charge she'd had to write more than her fair share of letters to horrified parents, explaining that daughters wouldn't be coming home at half-term because they'd be spending the break as frogs or rats, or elemental forces. That was the problem with witches; when they got themselves into trouble, they very rarely bothered with non-magical trouble. Just once Amelia wanted to write a letter home to a parent stating that a child wouldn't be coming back home for half-term because they'd hurt themselves playing volleyball and had to spend the duration in the sickbay.

Amelia's attention was drawn back to her girls as there was a flash of light and the four energy streams immediately died, leaving the four witches surrounded by a cloud of smoke.

All four took a step back and let out an exclamation of surprise.

"Are you ok girls?" Amelia rushed up to them, wanting to make sure that nothing had gone wrong with whatever it was that Constance had just done.

"Wow!" Was all Enid could manage to say. Miss Cackle was immediately worried. It was unlike Enid Nightshade to say a sentence that short. She left it a moment to see if any more words were coming. When they weren't she asked her question again.

"We're fine." Ruby finally managed to say.

The smoke began to dissipate and Amelia could make out the four girls. They all looked as though they had received an electric shock; their hair stood out and their eyes were wide open.

Mildred looked at her classmates and couldn't prevent a laugh from escaping from her lips.

"Mildred." Miss Cackle warned her to be quiet but she just couldn't help it, the four of them looked so funny standing there with their hair sticking out at all angles.

Amelia reached out a hand to check that Ethel was ok but she pulled up short. What if there was still a charge running through them? The last thing she wanted was to join the static hair brigade.

"That was amazing." Enid seemed to break from her state of shock and reached up a hand to try and touch the top of her hair. "I never knew we had that much magic in us." She held her hands out in front of her and watched as little sparks of energy jumped from one finger to the next. "How did you do that Miss?" She looked towards her teacher, waiting to hear the explanation. "Miss Hardbroom?"

Constance's head was tilted back against the wall and her eyes were closed.

"Miss?" Enid took a step forward but Miss Cackle waved her back. She offered up a second prayer to whoever might be listening and hoped that they wouldn't mind her double posting.

She knelt next to Constance and noted with concern that her colleagues face was a deathly shade of white. Whilst it was true that Constance could never be accused of having a rosy complexion her face was never normally this pale.

"Constance?" She whispered quietly. There was no immediate reply and Amelia bit her lips nervously; an unwanted thought rushed through her mind, making her realise that she had no idea who to inform if anything serious had indeed happened.

"Is she ok Miss Cackle?" She heard Mildred's voice at her shoulder.

"She'll be fine." Amelia lied and smiled up at Mildred. "Why don't you get everyone out of here, find the others and release them, then get them all to the Great Hall. Let's make sure that everyone is ok and accounted for."

"But Miss Hard…"

"Everyone to the Great Hall Mildred." Amelia repeated more firmly. "Find Miss Drill and Miss Bat and make sure that every girl is accounted for."

Mildred glanced at Miss Hardbroom before meeting the stern gaze of Miss Cackle. She realised that there was no point in arguing with her and she reluctantly turned to obey her teacher.

"Come on Ruby." She approached her friends.

"I wouldn't touch them just yet if I were you." Miss Cackle warned. "They still seem to be a little highly charged."

Amelia turned her attention back to Constance and moments later heard a shout and a flash of blue light. She sighed heavily knowing exactly what had happened. Sure enough when she turned her head she was greeted by the sight of Mildred with her two plaits stuck straight up in the air.

"Do you never listen to a word that anyone says to you Mildred Hubble?" The words were spoken in a familiar scathing tone; it was lacking in strength but the voice was unmistakable.

"Sorry Miss Hardbroom." Mildred apologised, a wide grin on her face.

Amelia turned back to her colleague and saw that her eyes were now open.

"Are you ok?" She whispered.

Constance thought about it for a moment.

"I've felt batter." She confessed. "I think I may have to stay here for some time though."

"Why?"

"I regret to inform you that I am not able to stand." Constance looked down at her right arm and tried to lift it. She managed to move it a few centimetres before her strength failed her.

"Your magic?" Amelia asked; concerned that her colleague had lost everything.

"It's still there." Constance reassured her. "It's just going to take a little longer to allow it to settle." She arched an eyebrow. "I do have a little more than the second years."

"Of course, of course." Amelia tried to understand what was going on.

"I will need a little assistance in returning to my room." Constance confessed. If there was one thing she hated it was admitting that she needed help from someone else.

"Of course." Amelia immediately chastised herself for not thinking of that sooner. She heard a contended mew from Tabby and watched as the cat nuzzled against Constance's arm.

"It seems that we didn't make a bad choice with Mildred Hubble's cat."

"Hmm." Constance found that she couldn't disagree. "We really should get him back to her."

"All in good time." Amelia told her, thinking that it was probably better that Constance kept the cat until she had regained a little more of her strength. "You took a huge risk in taking on Haldane." There was more anger in her voice than she had intended and she saw Constance's eyebrows rise in response. "You think it surprising that I'm concerned? Good potion teachers don't just grow on trees you know."

"Someone had to make a stand." She muttered, trying to muster the energy to engage in conversation. She battled to keep her eyes open but they felt heavy and she found that the effort was just too much.

Amelia turned her head as Imogen entered the room.

"What's going on?" Imogen stared around, uncertain that she'd ever seen the room before. She'd been released from the room she'd been locked in by two of the second years and they'd not really explained themselves very well.

"The girls were all trying to explain what happened and I don't think that any of what they said made any sense." She explained and then caught sight of Constance propped up against the wall. "Oh my…" She took a pace forward. "Is she ok?"

Amelia shrugged her shoulders and crossed the room, pulling Imogen to one side.

"I'm not really sure myself what happened. At this stage I can't be certain just how much of her magic Constance has regained. We'll just have to tread carefully and see what happens in the next couple of days."

"Is there anyone we can call?" Imogen tried to come up with a solution. "Some kind of Witch…Doctor?" She tailed off as she realised what she was saying.

"No no, there's no-one." Amelia told her, "In fact it's come to my attention that I don't know if Constance has anyone listed as next of kin."

Imogen looked down at Constance and realised that she'd never seen her look so relaxed. Even when their paths crossed out of school hours, Constance was always straight-backed and serious. She shook her head and reminded herself that the situation was a serious one.

"What are the chances of her not getting all of her magic back?"

Amelia shrugged her shoulders.

"I have to confess that I don't really understand what Haldane did." Amelia gestured toward the amulet that was wrapped around Constance's right wrist. "That amulet seems to be at the heart of it though. It appears as though he used that to draw the magic out of the girls and also Constance."

Imogen shook her head as she tried to understand what Miss Cackle was saying.

"He drew their magic out?"

Amelia nodded.

"Please don't ask me to explain how it worked as I honestly don't have a clue."

Imogen looked in Constance's direction again.

"What's going to happen to Haldane?"

"Beverly Blackthorn should have gotten word to Chief Wizard Helibore by now so I expect he'll be here soon and we can let him decide what to do with Haldane Harrington. Until he arrives I think we can safely leave him in the custody of Fenella and Griselda."

Imogen took a pace towards the door.

"I'll organise a stretcher party to move Constance up to her room… that is if Tabby will let us move her."

Amelia smiled as she noticed that Tabby was eyeing them both suspiciously.

"He's proved himself to be a very able cat." She remarked. "Not unlike his owner."

* * *

Time had passed inordinately slowly as far as Mildred was concerned. It had been two days since their confrontation with Haldane and still the school hadn't really returned to normal. Chief Wizard Helibore had arrived on the scene not long after Fenella and Griselda had locked Haldane away and taken charge of him. He had glared at the machine that purported to contain all of Pentangles magic and then proceeded to threaten Haldane with an eternity spent as a frog if he didn't help to put everything right. Haldane had initially resisted but after being turned into a frog for an afternoon as a warning, he quickly changed his mind and agreed to help.

Fenella had been summoned to see Miss Cackle and informed that her magic could also be returned to her. She was warned however that some of it was currently residing with Miss Hardbroom and that she'd have to wait for the potions teacher to regain some of her strength before she could regain it all.

Fenella had happily agreed to the terms and left the staff room, informing Mildred when she saw her that she had to report to Miss Hardbroom's room and that Mildred had to go with her as well.

Which was how Mildred now found herself at Miss Hardbroom's door wondering just how long it would take for Miss Hardbroom to finish with Fenella.

She had never been near HB's room before, none of the students had. It was a place that was most definitely not on the list of places where students were allowed to go.

She stood outside the door now and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Fenny had been gone for at least 5 minutes and Mildred was beginning to get really nervous. She wasn't entirely sure why she had been summoned but in her experience a summoning to see HB was never a good thing.

Finally the door opened and Fenella emerged, her hair was sticking out at all angles but a smile was plastered on her face.

"Your turn." She told Mildred and then clicked her fingers, watching as the raw magic sparked from the tips.

"You've only just got the magic back Fenella, I wouldn't be quite so eager to lose it again if I were you." Came a stern voice from within the room.

"Sorry Miss Hardbroom." Fenella immediately replied.

"Hmm. Come on in Mildred."

Mildred swallowed hard and walked through the doorway. She tried hard not stare at the room around her but found that she couldn't resist. It was like walking into a forbidden area. She knew that she'd never get the opportunity to walk within these walls again and she had to make sure that she had all the details correct to report back to the others.

A quick glance revealed that there appeared to be no personal touches in the room at all. There was very little to distinguish Miss Hardbroom's room from her own small place. There was a regulation wardrobe, dressing table and bed but there appeared to be precious little else in the room to mark it out as belonging to someone.

"Come in girl." Constance felt her energy and her patience begin to wane. Normally she wouldn't have let any student enter her room but she really didn't have the strength to go anywhere else. She had to confess that she felt more than a little uncomfortable at receiving visitors whilst she was still confined to bed.

She picked up Tabby from where the cat lay contentedly on her bedclothes.

"I thought I really ought to return him to you." She waited for Mildred to step closer. "He's a good reliable cat and I hope that you continue to look after him."

"Yes Miss Hardbroom." Mildred mumbled as she reached forward to take Tabby from her teacher's arms.

"I take it you don't really understand what happened?"

Mildred shook her head as she hugged the cat close to her and was relieved to hear his loud purring continue unabated.

"We explained when the cat's were handed out that they were only there because of tradition but what we couldn't say was how they had the potential to become something else." She paused. "Something special."

"What kind of special?" She had wanted to ask Miss Cackle the question whilst they'd been down in the dungeons but the time had not seemed right.

"A good witches cat will be able to home in on magic." Constance tried to find the right way to explain the situation. "Over time a cat will soak up a little of it's owner's magic and be able to reflect it back at them."

Mildred tried to understand what her teacher was getting at.

"So Tabby was able to find you because of your magic?"

"Exactly."

"But I thought that Haldane had…" She paused, not wanting to remind her teacher that she had very nearly lost everything." "I thought he'd… well… you know?"

Constance narrowed her eyes.

"He had as you so delicately put it very nearly 'well…you know'."

"But…" Mildred was still someway from understanding what it was that HB was getting at.

Constance raised her hand and waved the subject away.

"It's not necessary for you to understand everything at this stage Mildred. Suffice it to say that your cat was able to help me when I needed a little magical energy boost. I was able to draw upon the magic that he carried. Your magic."

Mildred held Tabby out in front of her and regarded the cat. He didn't look any different than usual.

"Blimey." She muttered.

"Don't treat him any differently." Constance warned her. "He'll get big-headed if you make too much of a fuss of him."

"Yes Miss Hardbroom." Mildred replied dutifully.

Sensing that the conversation had come to an end, Mildred turned to go. There was one question that was still nagging away at the back of her mind and she needed to hear the answer from Miss Hardbroom and no-one else.

"Miss." She turned and met her teacher's gaze. "You will… you know…won't you?" She waggled her fingers.

She felt her teacher's dark eyes boring into her and thought that maybe it had been the wrong question to ask. But suddenly the glare was lifted and a faint smile ghosted briefly across her face.

"Yes Mildred Hubble. I will…'you know'. Thank you."

Constance waited until she heard the door close behind Mildred before raising her right hand and removing the envelop spell she had cast on her room. Her surroundings blurred at the edges before dissipating and revealing the true contents of her room. She heard the chirping of her bats and smiled up at them before casting her eyes around at the rest of the items in her room, making sure that everything was still in its proper place. There was the sound of four paws landing softly on the bed followed by a loud purring. She reached out and absentmindedly scratched the head of her cat Morgana. It didn't do any harm to further the students' belief that she was without any need of home comforts. A little reinforcing went a long way to upholding the image she wanted them to have.

Morgana pushed her head beneath Constance's right hand and mewed gently. When no response was immediately forthcoming, she repeated the action, putting more force into the second nudge. Constance looked down at her cat and arched an eyebrow. Morgana was usually the most well behaved when it came to seeking attention and it was unlike her to be so pushy.

Constance was about to make some comment but there was something in the yellow eyes that stared back up at her that made her stop short.

Morgana blinked slowly and then pushed her head under Constance's hand, the level of her purring increasing.

Constance's face softened and she gently scratched Morgana behind the ears, the jet-black cat mewed in response and edged closer.

"I know you'd have done what you could." She reassured her cat as it gently nuzzled against her arm. "I'm going to be fine…really."

Morgana looked up at her again, her yellow eyes staring intently at her mistress, before she nudged at Constance's wrist. Constance turned her wrist round slowly looking at the deep red marks that the bands had left. Her right wrist also bore the patterns left by the amulet. She shook her head and scratched Morgana behind the ears.

"You worry too much." She advised her cat solemnly. "These marks will, I'm sure, fade in time and everything will be returned to normal."

Morgana's purr seemed to increase in volume again as the cat stretched out and laid her head on Constance's arm, regarding her owner carefully.

Constance closed her eyes as she felt another wave of tiredness wash over her; the road back to full health was obviously going to take a while but she was certain that Morgana was going to be at her side all the time. As she drifted off to sleep all she could hear was the contented purr of her cat.

* * *

Mildred returned to her room with Tabby and found the rest of her friends gathered there. Although she had told them all, several times, what had happened in the dungeons with Haldane they kept asking her to repeat the tale.

Sighing slightly Mildred told them again and this time added in one detail that she had previously missed out.

"You hugged HB?" Enid was shocked as she heard the new addition to the story. She opened her mouth to say something else on the subject but found that the words just wouldn't come. "HB!" Was all that she could add.

"Millie!" Maud also seemed as horrified as Enid had been.

Mildred simply shrugged her shoulders.

"I thought I'd killed her. I was really pleased to see her there."

Mildred couldn't add any detail to her story. When she looked back on the moment, and she had to confess she had tried to, she couldn't recall exactly the way that her teacher had reacted. She had been so relieved to see HB still alive that she had reacted without thinking. She remembered reaching out to hug her and then the next thing she could clearly recall was sitting back on her heels and hearing HB tell her that they weren't out of the woods yet.

"But she didn't turn you into a toad." Ruby reminded her. "And I'm sure I heard the 3rd years whispering about what she'd done to the last person that had dared to invade her personal space."

Mildred closed her eyes and tried to recall exactly how things had happened in the dungeon. Every time she thought about it the jump in her memory happened in the same place. It was almost as though someone had changed her memories. She shook her head; that was impossible surely.

"Well one good thing's come out of all this." Mildred decided to move things on.

"What?" Maud asked.

"HB being out of our hair for a few days?" Enid suggested but Mildred shook her head.

"I've finally got something to put in my next letter home." She smiled at the others. "Not that my parents will believe a single word of it."


End file.
